Queen Elizabeth ranks 19 on female rich list

Queen Elizabeth ranks 19 on female rich list
REUTERS

LONDON, JULY 10: Old British money is losing its lustre with a new rich list showing corporate America and Dutch royalty easily outpacing Queen Elizabeth in the contest to be the world's richest woman.

Queen Elizabeth came in at No 19, second richest royal on the 200-strong list behind Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands (17). But captains of industry dominated the top spots, earning fortunes in everything from food to finance.

"In the United States 38 per cent of all businesses are owned by women and in Germany that figure is between 60 and 65 per cent -- a staggering statistic in a world of global business that is presumed to be dominated by men," said EuroBusiness magazine, which compiled the list for its August issue.

But Britain's rich fared less well, with Queen Elizabeth's fortune put at 3.11 billion euros (1.95 billion pounds), behind Queen Beatrix's 3.48 billion euros (2.2 billions pounds).

It said other rich lists fudged the issue by grouping families together rather than totting up individual wealth.

"Therefore the first ever listing of the world's richest women offers a glimpse of how wealth is distributed within families across the globe," said the magazine.

With 46 billion euros (nearly 29 billion pounds), Helen Walton, an 81-year-old American, is easily the richest woman in the world by inheriting most of her husband's shares in the world biggest retailer, Wal-Mart Stores of the United States.

France's Liliane Bettancourt, 74, is no longer the world's wealthiest woman but came in second with 14.3 billion euros (nine billion pounds).

Yet Bettancourt is still by far Europe's single richest individual as controllor of L'Oreal cosmetics empire, which was founded by her father, Eugene Schueller, in 1907.

Ranked 175th, eight-year-old Briton India James is potentially the youngest rich female in the world with 600 million euros (378 million pounds), according to EuroBusiness.

She is the youngest of two granchildren, and designated heirs, of London publisher and property owner Paul Raymond.