The Duke of Westminster is the nation’s richest man according to Forbes magazine which has released details on the world’s billionaires.
The 59-year-old Duke of Westminster, Gerald Cavendish Grosvenor, is one of Britain’s 32 billionaires with a portfolio worth an eye-watering $13 billion.
Indian-born property magnates David and Simon Reuben are next on the list of richest Brits with an estimated fortune of $8 billion.
Topshop boss Philip Green is the third wealthiest, with the retail guru’s net worth believed to be $7.25 billion – up $500 million from last year despite the High Street downturn.
Making up the top five of wealthiest Brits is F1’s head honcho Bernie Ecclestone, Virgin boss Richard Branson and property aristocrats The Cadogan family with an estimated $4.2 billion each.
However, these figures pale into significance to the world’s richest man with Mexican communications magnate Carlos Slim worth $74 billion – an increase of $20 billion on last year.
Microsoft founder Bill Gates, who intends to give much of his $56 billion fortune to charity, is the second on the list ahead of American investor Warren Buffet on $50 billion.
The richest UK resident is Indian steel boss Lakshmi Mittal who, with a fortune of $31.1 billion, is sixth on the list and first in his Indian homeland.
Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich is the world’s 53rd richest man on $13.4 billion, just behind Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg – the wealthiest of six Facebook billionaires.
But while the poor continue to toil in times of economic uncertainty, the rich get richer with Forbes estimating the world to have 1,210 dollar billionaires – an increase of 214 from last year.
The combined wealth of these 1,210 individuals is $4.5 trillion (£2.78 trillion) – which is slightly more than the UK’s total debt which stands at £2.34 trillion.
Who are the UK’s richest people? (World ranking in brackets)
1. Duke of Westminster (57), Real Estate, $13 billion
2. David & Simon Reuben (114), Real Estate, $8 billion
3. Philip Green (132), Retail, $7.2 billion
4. Bernie Ecclestone (254), Formula One, $4.2 billion
Richard Branson, Virgin
Charles Cadogan, Real estate
7. Bruno Schroder (297), Banking, $3.7 billion
8. Joe Lewis (347), Investments, $3.2 billion
Barclay Brothers, Media and retail
10. Richard Elman (409) Finance, $2.8 billion