Britain’s richest person ever had a huge £81 billion fortune but most people haven’t even heard of him.
You might think the richest Brit is a business man or football club owner but he was actually a soldier.
Alan Rufus was a French immigrant who came over to Britain to help his uncle William the Conqueror in 1066.
He amassed a huge fortune worth an estimated £81.3 billion in modern monetary terms.
It dwarfs Chelsea football club owner Roman Abramovich’s £10.8 billion and steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal’s £19.3 billion.
Monarchs are not included in the list of richest Brits as their wealth is difficult to calculate, says Harriman House.
In Philip Beresford’s book, called “The Richest of the Rich”, he analyses who makes it to the top.
Beresford creates the annual Rich List for the Sunday Times with the help of William Rubinstein, professor of history at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth.
Other Brits included on the rich list include Gopi Hinduja and his family with an estimated £37.2 billion.
The family made its fortune from the Mumbai-based conglomerate Hinduja Group, which spans business sectors including banking and finance, media and entertainment, and energy and has about 200,000 staff around the world, reports The Standard.
Another of Brits richest people is Sir Leonard Blavatnik with a huge £29.25 billion.
The Ukrainian-born business man and philanthropist built up his fortune in Russia, he took Warner Music public in June 2020 after buying it in 2011.
David and Simon Reuben and family are the next notable wealthy Brits with £24.98 billion.
The brothers made their money through property and technology with their private equity and investment business Reuben Brothers. They were born in Mumbai and raised in the UK.
Other notable wealthy Brits include Sir Jim Ratcliffe, part-owner of Manchester United and Sir James Dyson, inventor of the Dyson vacuum.
