It’s good to be the King!
The ratings of the Top-10 highest paid royals
The great Mel Brook played Louis XIV in the epical comedy “World History. Part 1”. His character is well remembered for his key phase announced repeatedly — “It’s good to be the King”. But is it really good to be the king, queen, sultan, or any other royal?
Well, sometimes, it is a well-paid job.
Please see the list of the top 10 best paid sovereigns:
1. $9.6 billion — Saudi Arabia
This Royal allowance is paid to King Salman bin Abdulaziz al Saud as the Head of state and the Head of government of Saudi Arabia.
Most of the top government positions are held by the member of the 15,000-strong House of Saud, although, only 2,000 (!) of the royals yield any serious power, influence and wealth.
The combined wealth of the House of Saud is in excess of $1.4 trillion, although the richest and most popular Saudi Prince al Waleed bin Talal is worth mere $20 billion.
The Saudi royals enjoy many perks — the most unusual one is the unlimited free First class tickets on Saudia Airlines.
2. $165 million — Kuwait
This Royal allocation is paid to Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, the Emir of Kuwait, the Head of the House of Al-Sabah.
The Emir keeps himself busy personally appointing the government and judiciary, and making sure that its citizens do not lack cash, and the things that money can buy.
The Royal family is rather well off — it sits on the fortune of $360 billion.
3. $122.4 million — The United Kingdom
This Sovereign Grant is paid out to the Queen Elizabeth II by the government in order to fund the monarch’s official duties. The Sovereign Grant only accounts for a small part of the total cost of running the monarchy, which is approximately £300 million annually. The Sovereign Grant does not cover the costs of police and military security and of armed services ceremonial duties. Nor does it cover the costs of royal ceremonies or local government costs for royal visits.
The Royal Family’s net worth exceeds $88 billion.
4. $946 million — Thailand
This budget allocation to the Royal family is provided to King Rama X (Maja Vajiralongkorn). The King had been educated in the UK, US and Australia and prefers living in Germany. Thailand’s very restrictive “lese-majeste” law prohibits insulting, defaming, or threatening the monarchy.
By the way, one of the Royal regalia of the King is the White Elephant, the King also has 10 others to spare. His current net worth exceeds $60 billion.
5. $56 million — Eswatini (formerly called Swaziland)
The Great King Mswati III receives this annual royal grant. This Christian king and the Grand Master of the Order of the Elephant has to support a large household of 15 wives, 2 of each were appointed by the states, and 23 children.
Ruled by the degree nation currently recognizes Taiwan as the only China — take this Beijing!
Eswatini is not a wealthy nation with the nominal GDP of only $4.2 billion dollars, but this should not impede the royal lifestyle of this unique royal. His personal net worth exceeds $200 million.
6. $52 million — Monaco
The recipient of the Royal Grant, Prince Albert II of the House of Grimaldi is pretty well off in his own name. His fortune exceeds $1 billion.
The Princes sportsmanship (he led Monaco bobsleigh team in the Olympics), charity and other heroic activities have been marked by 4 national and 34 foreign orders, including the rare Order of the Liberator of Slaves Jose Simeon Canas of El Salvador.
The Principality’s Gross National Product per capita is the highest in the world at over $185,000 ($65,297 — in the US).
7. $36 million — Qatar
The Royal grant is received by His Highness Emir Tamim bin Hamad al Thani who is doing a remarkable job ruling over 300,000 Qataris and 2,300,000 expatriates.
The young 40-year-old Emir is well-known for his independent foreign policy that even earned Qatar the 4-year blockade by its closest allies and neighbours — Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt. The situation was anecdotical — one of the ways to get from Doha, Qatar to Dubai was via Tel Aviv, the main airport of the Arabs’ arch-enemy Israel.
The Royal Family’s current net worth is $335 billion.
8. $33.2 million — Norway
The Royal Grant is received by King Harald V, the second cousin of Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom. His net worth is paltry $30 million.
The King works harder than most of his royal colleagues — he meets with the Council of State at the Royal Palace every Friday. He also has weekly meetings with the Prime Minister and the Minister of Foreign Affairs. He receives foreign envoys, and formally opens parliament every October delivering a speech from the throne during each opening. He travels extensively throughout Norway and makes official state visits to other countries, as well as receiving and hosting guests.
His bravery and social importance are marked by 21 Norwegian orders and 55 foreign ones — I wonder if there is any state occasion where he’d have to wear them all…
9. $22.4 million — Bahrain
The privy purse of King Hamad bin Isa al Khalifa pays for many executive and state functions. House of Khalifa is responsible for at least a half of all cabinet post in the Kingdom. Bahrain provides probably the best example of the family-run country — most major decisions are taken by the Ruling Family Council chaired by the King Hamad.
The King’s current net worth is $5 billion
10. $15.7 million — Sweden
The Royal Grant goes to the Svenska Kungafamilijen, namely to King Carl XVI Gustaf and 20 members of the Royal House. The King’s current net worth is $70 million.
The Swedish King is a very busy man — he is the highest ranked officer of Sweden’s armed forces, the Honorary Chairman of the World Scout Foundation, and every year he hands out Nobel prizes to the worthy scientistis.
By the way, King Carl has more Ukrainian orders than any other politician — 3 of them! The flags of both nations are similarly colored.
Well, these jobs seem attractive enough… but there are way too few vacancies…
