The Prince of Monaco journeyed to the North
Pole from Russia via dogsled to prove the effects of global warming. The King of Morocco has flown his car across
countries and portions of the North Atlantic just for a tune-up. The royalty of Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the
United Arab Emirates are currently at odds and have been known to call each other rabid
dogs in the heat of debate. Yet, despite their differences, all have at
least three things in common: a title, power, and money. Let’s see just how rich they are in this
episode of The Infographics Show, The World’s Richest Monarchs Right Now. Number 10 is Prince Albert of Monaco, the
third richest royal in Europe, with a net value of $1 billion. Prince Albert is a descendant from traditional
as well as Hollywood royalty. His father was Prince Rainier III of the Grimaldi
bloodline while his mother was Princess Grace, otherwise known as famous actress Grace Kelly. One of the assets that Prince Albert owns
is Grace’s childhood home in Philadelphia, which he purchased for $755,000 in October
of 2016 with plans to open it up as a seasonal museum. But his mother wasn’t the only one to leave
to leave behind valuable and cherished mementos. Prince Albert also inherited a priceless stamp
collection that was begun by his great-great grandfather. It includes some Sardinian stamps from as
far back as 1851 that are believed to be some of the first ever used in Monaco. Then there is the impressive car collection
that his father built up over decades to which Prince Albert continues to add. It is now around 120 vehicles strong. This stockpile is so large that it could no
longer fit in the garage and was moved to Terrasses de Fontvieille, where it is still
currently on display. Among the cars is a London taxi that Prince
Albert’s family used for most of their travel as well as the Lexus from his 2011 royal wedding
to a blonde bombshell South African swimmer. It also includes models from Rolls Royce,
Ferrari, Maserati, Lamborghini, and more. The prince owns a fourth of the land under
his control as well, and has plans in the works to expand Monaco’s territory further
by extending it out to sea. This is critical as Monaco has the largest
population density of any country in the world. In fact, thirty five of every 100 residents
are mulit-millionaires vying over space to call the tax-free principality their home. Due to this competition, the cost of property
in the area is surpassed by Hong Kong alone. To accommodate the expected influx of an additional
27,000 of the filthy rich by 2027, the plan is to expand around 645,000 more square feet
(60,000 square meters). This will make space for 120 luxury homes
and bring yet more prosperity to the region. Beyond pricey real estate, stamps, automobiles,
and land, Prince Albert also profits off shares he holds in a Monte Carlo resort as well. In other words, he, his wife, and their three
children have got it made. Number 9 is Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al
Thani of Qatar who is worth a reputed $1.2 billion. Most of this wealth is due to the Qatar Investment
Authority, the fourth largest middle eastern sovereign fund, with $320 billion in assets. QIA makes investments around the world with
money it gets in exchange for Qatar’s oil and gas, and has made substantial profits. Its investments include shares in the Deutsche
Bank, London Stock Exchange, and Volkswagen in Europe and the Gigamon Incorporated software
company in the United States. It plans to expand the US portion of its’
portfolio to reach a total value of $45 billion within the next two years. However, the area wasn’t always well-off
and the Qatar Investment Authority didn’t exist until 2005. In fact, the Qatari people struggled just
to get by until part of the world’s largest gas field was discovered within their borders. Emir Hamad’s father joined forces with Exxon
executive Rex W. Tillerson, a recent US Secretary of State, to liquify the gas and make it exportable. The area then went from a poor one to one
with the highest average income as a result. However, the emir believes that this profit
has made others in the area feel threatened. Qatar is currently riding out a boycott by
its Saudi and Emirati neighbors and each continually tries to one-up the other in a display of
power and prestige. For example, while Qatar purchased a Cezanne
painting for $250 million, a record for art at the time, Saudi Arabia purchased a Leonardo
da Vinci painting for a new record of $450.3 million. Emir Hamad of Qatar’s assets have set him
apart in other ways as well. He bought the Paris Saint-Germain soccer team
which placed as the eleventh most valuable according to Forbes. In fact, it set a record by paying a $242
million transfer fee for player Neymar Jr. The Emir is also reputed to own a 408 foot
(124 meter) yacht known as the Katara, translated to mean celebration. Built in Bremen, Germany, the massive vessel
is the 14th largest private luxury yacht world-wide and estimated to be worth $300,000,000. Number 8 is Grand Duke Henri of Luxembourg,
the second richest royal in Europe and one of its youngest, with a net worth of $4 billion. His value is mainly the result of the funds
from the Grand Duke’s House that are his alone as holder of the crown. He does not earn a salary but gets $324,851
to spend on royal functions and an additional budget of $12,181,914 for household expenses. Because the country of Luxembourg is so small
with few inhabitants compared to most other nations, the cost in taxes each citizen paid
to support the royal family was a little over $19 in 2014. In comparison, the cost of the British royal
family was 70 cents a person and the Spanish required 18 cents. Then there is Belgium where royalty no longer
accepts any form of assistance. Though some believe financial burden is a
contributing factor to why monarchies of the past have dissolved, the Grand Duke and Duchess
seem beloved by their people nonetheless. Crowds showed up to cheer at his swearing
in ceremony in October of 2000 after his father, Grand Duke Jean, stepped down. Number 7 is Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum,
who is both prime minister and vice president of the United Arab Emirates as well as emir
sheikh of Dubai. He is worth $4.5 billion. A large amount of his income is generated
through his sovereign wealth fund, the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, ranked as the
third biggest in the world and worth $828 billion as of 2018. A majority of this is due to Abu Dhabi oil,
and most of its other holdings remain undisclosed to the public. The emir also profits off of a majority of
shares in investment firm Dubai Holding, the owner of a major property development and
management company and a luxury hotel company, and worth $35 billion. In the past decades, Dubai was renowned for
its riches. Once largely due to oil, this eventually shifted. More recently, this wealth, or around $100
billion in revenue, was a combination of real estate, ports, and airlines, while surprisingly
a mere seven percent was from oil. In fact, it was real estate developments that
led to soaring economic growth and the construction of Burj Khalifa, which at 160 stories high
is the world’s tallest building and Burj Al-Arab, the most expensive hotel in the world. However, this upturn was soon followed by
a downturn. The construction of man-made islands off the
Persian Gulf and other massive enterprises did not meet with as much success as planned. Dubai found itself out $80 million and had
to turn to Abu Dhabi for a bailout. It was not the only area to struggle. As real estate and the stock market plummeted,
the richest around the world lost $22 billion from 2018 to 2019, though Dubai lost the most
of all. Its savior, the Sheikh of Abu Dhabi also lost
billions as oil prices fell. However, despite some not so successful projects
the emir of Dubai has been quite generous with his money with positive effects on many. He contributed $10 billion dollars towards
the establishment of the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Foundation, one of the largest
five foundations in the world, for example. This organization seeks to promote job and
business opportunity, knowledge and education, and culture. Number 6 is Prince Hans-Adam II of Liechtenstein,
the richest royal in Europe, with a net worth of $5 billion. According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index,
he is one of the 500 richest people in the world, ranked at number 444 to be exact. His fortune is one that dates back to the
time of the Crusades from land held throughout Europe. This wealth is now tied to the Princely House
of Liechtenstein’s private bank, the LGT Group. LGT acquired additional assets that led to
a recent spike in value in 2017. This provided von Liechtenstein an extra $1.7
billion and lifted him up to his current billionaires index ranking. On top of this there are profits he has made
from investments through the Prince of Liechtenstein Foundation, a holding company, as well. He also happens to own the second-best private
art collection in the world, according to Forbes. While the 1,600 paintings and other forms
of art were hidden away from the Nazis in 1938, they are available once again for public
view. And they are not displayed in an ordinary
gallery, but rather a garden Viennese palace owned by the prince and that was altered for
the exhibition at a cost of $27 million. He also owns a city Viennese palace as well. The allowance the Prince of Liechtenstein
receives of $270,709, similarly to Grand Duke Henri of Luxembourg, seems rather unnecessary. It is likely as small as it is due to the
royal houses’ wealth. Number 5 is King Mohammed VI of Morocco, with
a net worth of $5.7 billion. He made most of this wealth through the Societe
Nationale d’Investissement holding company after his father left him 35% of the business. Among other things, it has shares in Morocco’s
biggest bank and in the mining, sugar, and dairy industries. He has other holding companies that control
additional businesses and industries as well. In other words, he owns most of the Moroccan
economy. Because he also controls half of the phosphate
in the world, his value is virtually immune to changes in the market that impact most
other things such as the value of oil or gas. Yet, despite his wealth, he is still given
more than $34 million each year to spend as he chooses. Unfortunately, his choices have been questionable. When his expenditures were first discovered
and then published by French authors in March of 2012, his subjects were justifiably enraged. While millions of his people struggled to
make ends meet on a dollar or so a day, the French book claimed that the Moroccan king
was spending $1.3 million annually on pet food and $2.6 million more on clothing. He also had a habit of keeping 12 palaces
ready on the off-chance he would use them, yet he never showed up at more than four. Supposedly the King even flew his luxury car
to Britain for routine servicing and spent $46,000 on a coat. Unsurprisingly, the book resulted in scandal,
though the king was not the only one whose reputation suffered. Its authors were arrested for supposedly attempting
to earn $2.3 million in exchange for not printing it. And somehow, despite it all, years later King
Mohammed remains king. Number 4 is Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, president
of the United Arab Emirates and emir of Abu Dhabi with a net worth of $15 billion. Much of his wealth is due to his connection
with the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, responsible for managing oil reserves from the United
Arab Emirates. It is believed that the investment firm has
a greater worth than the total assets of Saudi Arabia and Qatar put together, or somewhere
over $525 billion. It is surpassed in value only by a government
fund in Norway with a worth around $757 billion and the Chinese Investment Corporation valued
at approximately $574 billion. Its preferred areas of investment include
London’s land, real estate, and resources. It now owns the old Scotland Yard building
that it purchased for over $486 million as well as just shy of ten percent of London’s
Thames Water supply. Number 3 is King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Soud
of Saudi Arabia with a net worth of $17 billion. He has earned this fortune through his family’s
ownership of a media group that includes Asharq Al-Awsat and Al Eqtisadiah. The first of these is a newspaper that provides
news on both the national and foreign affairs. The latter is a newspaper with a focus on
economics and business. The King spends his money without reserve
on several luxurious items. One of these is a yacht as long as a football
field with a banquet room and onboard space to accommodate as many as 30. He has also taken a $30 million vacation to
the Maldives and used three entire resorts for himself and those accompanying him, including
his 100 bodyguards. Even his Kleenex dispenser is covered in gold
as well as the chairs he sits on, and the king had a golden escalator designed for his
use when exiting his private plane. However, to the ridicule of many, he had to
awkwardly walk down the gilded steps when the contraption malfunctioned on landing in
Russia for a meeting with Vladimir Putin. Number 2 is Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah of Brunei
who is worth $20 billion thanks to oil and gas. It was Brunei that came up with the first
large scale natural gas liquifying plant once a gas field was found offshore of his country. This set a precedent for others world-wide
who had gas but no way to ship it, such as Qatar. Brunei has many sources of oil as well, but
the oil field known as Champion is its greatest. Champion can fill up to 100,000 barrels daily. With natural resources of that amount it comes
as no surprise that the Sultan is living a lavish lifestyle. His home, known as The Istana Nurul Iman,
is the largest residential palace in the world. It takes up around 2,152,782 square feet surrounded
by white walls and topped with golden domes. It has 1,788 rooms, 5 pools, and a 110-car
parking garage and uses 38 kinds of marbles for its 18 elevators and 44 staircases. And that’s not all. His garage is anything but empty. The sultan parks his 65 customized Ferraris,
Bentleys, and Lamborghinis, his 165 Rolls Royces, and his 37 Bugattis there. After all, why stop at The King of Morocco’s
120 cars when you can have 267. Number 1 is King Maha Vajiralongkorn of Thailand
worth $30 billion due to investments made by the Crown Property Bureau. The Bureau owns more than 3,000 acres of property
in Bangkok and stakes in Siam Commercial Bank and in Siam Cement. King Vajiralongkorn is also owner of the largest
cut and shaped diamond in the world, the Golden Jubilee Diamond. It came from the Premier Mine, the same origin
as the other large and famous Cullinan and Taylor-Burton diamonds. Though, unlike the others, at first it was
considered quite ugly. It took two years and specialized equipment
to cut it and give it the attractive yellow brown sparkle it has today. It has since received blessings from Pope
John Paul II, the Supreme Imam, and the Supreme Buddhist Patriarch of Thailand and was first
given to King Vajiralongkorn’s father in honor of his 50th coronation anniversary. Though his people were told that it was a
golden topaz at first, and not a diamond. In a time of financial hardship, it was prudent
that they didn’t realize their leader was parading around what is believed to be an
up to $12 million-dollar stone on his royal scepter. However, in time they learned the truth and
it now sits on display, instead of attached to a kingly accessory. Clearly, these men are all quite different
from one another, yet all are famous, powerful, and filthy rich. In a world where many monarchies have toppled
they, for one reason or another, have retained their positions of leadership. This is despite questionable spending by many
at the taxpayers expense. Of these top ten monarchs, who, if any, deserve
to be ousted from power? Let us know in the comments! Also, be sure to check out our other video
called When Royal Inbreeding Went Wrong! Thanks for watching, and, as always, don’t
forget to like, share, and subscribe. See you next time!
Of course many are arabs because they all have theur oil money!