Money cannot buy you happiness but it can certainly help. One of the questions that always intrigues me is who is the richest person in the UK. It certainly isn’t myself as I am not even the richest person in my street little own anywhere else.
Leonard Blavatnik
According to the Sunday Times Rich List, the richest person in the UK in 2021 is 63 year, old Leonard Blavatnik with a net worth of some £23billion. Wow, that is a lot of money especially considering that the average net worth of someone in the UK is £155,000.
The richest man in the UK was born in Ukraine and emigrated to the US in 1978. He currently holds dual citizenship in the UK and the US. He owns Warner Music, sports streaming service Dazn and he also has his own investment firm Access Industries.
Over the last year his net worth has increased by £7bn so definitely knows how to make money and be successful even during such a challenging year. Blavatnik, however, is also a very charitable person and was knighted by the Queen in 2017 for his services to philanthropy.
David and Simon Reuben
Coming in second place in the list of the richest people in the UK are David and Simon Reuben with a net worth of £21bn.
The brothers are self-made billionaires who came to the UK in the 1050s from India. Bombay, but came to the UK in the 1950s and made their money in the 1970s and 1980s from carpets, metals, and properties.
The Reuben brothers own several properties around the world including The Millbank Tower in London and The Surrey in Manhattan.
Like Blavatnik the Reubens are generous and donate a lot of money to charity through the Reubens Foundation which primarily focuses on healthcare and education.
Top 10 Richest People in the UK
The top 10 richest people in the UK according to the Sunday Times Rich List are shown below.
- Sir Leonard Blavatnik – £23bn
- David and Simon Reuben £21.465bn
- Sri and Gopi Hinduja and family £17bn
- Sir James Dyson and family – £16.3bn
- Lakshmi Mittal and family – £14.68bn
- Alisher Usmanov – £13.406bn
- Kirsten and Jorn Rausing – £13bn
- Roman Abramovich – £12.101bn
- Charlene de Carvalho-Heineken and Michel de Carvalho – £12.013bn
- Guy, George, Alannah and Galen Weston and family – £11bn
Harry Potter magic
Harry Potter author JK Rowling is listed as having a net worth of £820m. That’s pretty impressive for an author who wrote several chapters about Hogwarts and muggles in various cafes in Edinburgh.
Not only does JK Rowling feature in the Sunday Times Rich List but two of the stars of the films based on her books also appear to have done rather well out of the wizarding world she created.
Daniel Radcliffe who played Harry Potter in the film series also appears on the rich list which reveals his net worth to be £95m.
Emma Watson who played Hermione Granger in the films has amassed a £58m fortune. She also starred as Belle in Beauty and the Beast which is one of the highest grossing films of all time.
Rich musicians
Several musicians appear on the rich list including “Perfect” and “Castle on the Hill” singer Ed Sheeran who has amassed £220m.
Former One Direction stars Harry Styles (£75m), Niall Horan (£52m), Louis Tomlinson (£45m), Liam Payne (£44m) and Zayn Malik (£36m) all appear on the list showing that nothing is going to drag them down.
Billionaires in the UK
Despite the last year having been incredibly difficult for so many people in the UK due to the various lockdowns due to the COVID pandemic, there were actually 24 new billionaires created so that there are now 171 billionaires in the UK in total.
The combined net worth of all the billionaires in the UK comes to over £597 billion which is equivalent to around 21.7% of the net worth of everyone in the UK.
The richest person in the world
The £23 billion net worth of Leonard Blavatnik is completely overshadowed by France’s Bernard Arnaultin and his £131.2 billion. Bernaud is the chairman of LVMH (Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy) which owns Tiffany & Co, Dom Pérignon, Christian Dior, and Louis Vuitton brands.
The second and third richest people in the world are Amazon’s Jeff Bezos (£131 billion) and Elon Musk with a net worth of £103.8 billion.
Millionaire shortbread
Well, as much as I would like to be a billionaire I sincerely doubt I will ever become a millionaire unless I win the lottery. In the meantime, I can only dream and will have to settle for a slice of millionaire shortbread with my coffee instead.
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