The British monarchy might be one of the richest royal families on the planet with an estimated combined fortune of $88billion – but it only ranks at number five on the global list. The majority of the British monarchy’s wealth coming from inherited land and investments.
This is in addition to the sovereign grant to pay for the royal family’s expenses, which comes from taxpayers. But that wealth pales in comparison to the coffers of the House of Saud, the ruling family in Saudi Arabia.
The monarchy is said to worth more than $1trillion – more than 16 times the wealth of the British royal family.
And with that amount of cash, the royal family expect only the best.
Private jets, luxury super yachts, helicopters, palaces, luxury chateaus, gold furniture in their lavish homes and even a gold-plated tissue dispenser.
Among one of the biggest spenders in the royal family is Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman.
On one wall in one of his Saudi Arabian royal palaces hangs a Leonardo Da Vinci painting worth $447 million.
The crown prince, who is heir to the throne, is also said to have bought a $496 million super yacht, $298million chateau in France, two homes in London and an entire compound on the southern coast of Spain.
As deputy prime minister- his father King Salman is Prime Minister- the crown prince is said to be the power behind the throne.
Along with his massive spending, he has also made some important cultural changes to Saudi Arabia, including removing the ban on women being able to drive.
But with a personal fortune of almost $3 billion, he can certainly afford to splash the cash.
Unlike the British royal family, the Saudi monarchy hasn’t gained its wealth from land – instead, their vast fortune comes from the huge oil reserves in the Middle Eastern country.
The crown prince also seems to have turned his attention to acquiring a football club and is believed to be heading a consortium who wants to buy Newcastle United.
However, he refuses to be drawn on how large his vast wealth actually is.
In an interview with CBS News, the Crown Prince insisted that his finances were a private matter.
He added: “I’m a rich person and not a poor person. I’m not Gandhi or Mandela. I’m a member of the ruling family that existed for hundreds of years before the founding of Saudi Arabia.”
His father the king, who came to the throne in 2015, is believed to have a personal fortune of $16.8billion.
One of the wealthiest members of the Saudi royal family is Prince Alwaleed, who was said to have a fortune of $18billion and was the 45th richest man in the world.
But then he was arrested under the orders of the crown prince.
He was one of the three members of the royal family to be arrested in November 2017 as part of an anti-corruption drive by the government.
He was freed a few months later and is believed to have made a financial settlement and fallen out of the Forbes rich lists.
However, the prince still owns a huge super yacht which was used in the James Bond film, Never Say Never Again.
He also has but a mere two palaces with a third currently being built. The Kingdom Palace is the residence the prince calls his main home.
Worth $130million the sand-coloured palace boasts 317 rooms, five kitchens, including one solely for desserts, a lagoon-shaped pool and a 45-seat cinema. In addition, 1,500 tonnes of Italian marble was used in the palace’s construction and the floors are covered in silk oriental carpets.
And there’s no chance of the prince ever getting bored when he’s at home as the palace has 250 TVs.
As well as his lavish palaces, Prince Alwaleed also owns the Kingdon Resort, which has three lakes and huge gardens.
His third palace, which will be called Kingdom Oasis, will have its own private zoo.
However, despite their lavish spending, the Saudi royal family insist they plough billions into charitable projects every year.
Prince Alwaleed bin Talal said: “Philanthropy is a personal responsibility, which I embarked upon more than three decades ago and is an intrinsic part of my Islamic faith.”
And when King Salman came to throne one of his first acts was to donate $43billion to ordinary Saudi people.
The money as given to “all state employees, soldiers, students, and pensioners, as well as generous grants to various professional associations, and literary and sports clubs”.
Three million people out of Saudia Arabia’s five million population work for the state and everyone got the equivalent of two month’s pay.
They have also donated millions to further the cause of female entrepreneurs.
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