I found this article in the newspaper today.  Look who is at No1!Our poor old queen HRH Queen Elizabeth 2nd has dropped to No12. Must be the credit crunch.

The richest royals 1. King Bhumibol Adulyade of Thailand (£18.79bn) 2. Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al-Nahyan of the United Arab Emirates (£12.35bn) 3. King Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz of Saudi Arabia (£11.27bn) 4. Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah of Brunei (£10.74bn) 5. Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum of Dubai (£9.66bn) 6. Prince Hans-Adam II von und zu Liechtenstein of Liechtenstein (£2.68bn) 7. Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al Thani of Qatar (£1.07bn) 8. King Mohammed IV of Morocco (£805.4m) 9. Prince Albert II of Monaco (£751.7m) 10. Sultan Qaboos bin Said Al Said of Oman (£590.1m) 11. Prince Karim Aga Khan (£536.9m) 12. Queen Elizabeth II (£349m) 13. Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al Sabah of Kuwait (£268m) 14. Queen Beatrix Wilhelmina Armgardof the Netherlands (£161m) 15. King Mswati III of Swaziland (£107.4m)

Wow! Our King is number one! We always knew it - in every respect His Majesty is our Number One!

I thought that Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah of Brunei is richer than our king. :S

does King Bhumibol Adulyade pay taxes?

I read it from Yahoo too...

by the way, long live the king ^^

i thought Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah of Brunei would be the richest

whether or not we all still love our king all our heart.

where can I apply for the job?

where can I apply for the job?

ä»·èÒàµÕ¹ÊÔ.....lote of job there hehehe!!!!!

This list makes me feel very sad.

All that money for what?

While so many people go without or have so little.

Long live the poor, hungry child in the gutter.

Many Thais took umbrage with that reporting.

I read that the Thai Foreign Ministry is going after Forbes for publishing this info about K. Bhumipol. They said that it is not accurate since the vast majority of the Kings wealth is managed by the Crown Property Bureau and on behalf of the Thai people. They reported that 83% of the property is rented to charities or at low rates to the poor of Thailand. THey said only 7% of the land was rented for profit to commercial entities.

So the Thai people are actually among the richest monarchs in the world, right?

They maybe rich, BUT you gotta remember that some of this wealth has been accumulated and handed down from one monarch to their successor and so on. This also happnes in many families.

For the Thai king, the Crown Property Bureau has some of the prime real estate in Bangers which at the time they acquired it would not have cost much, nor would they have thought how much land prices would appreciate. And as Pjack said, yes some of it is rented at very low rates to the people depending on the location whereas other is rented at a profit.

Also a guy who was in my Grade 9-12 classes told me about the land his great-grandfather bought and later sold (unfortunately !!). That same block of land is now where the General Post Office in Melbourne, Australia stands. Imagine if his family had kept the land and leased it !!

Most of it is rented to the government and to high prices. His Royal Highness King Bhumibol Adulyade (you have to write like this) also have stakes in Siam Commercial Bank, Bangkok Bank, Siam Cement and loads of of other companies in Thailand i have no doubt he is the riches King alive.

Nothing wrong with that Long live the King of Siam

PJack... I agree with you. It is the same for our Queen. A lot of the wealth is actually landholdings, held or managed under the Crown Estates.

To be clear... i did not, in my comment, say anything about any king or royal family. My comment was about my sadness that societies... us... people... who still allow massive accumulation of wealth and power in certain places such as 'royalty' and their families. This in not the fault of the royal people.

We know we are all born from this world and we will all turn to dust and dirt when we die... even royalty. They are not Gods, or better or worse than any of us, but rather people who have been born into their situation and groomed for their life.

Remember that Lord Buddha was also born into this life and was being groomed in a similar way, so the story goes.

But Lord Buddhas power and all his influence and goodness did not came from his family's wealth or position. It came after he walked away from it.

If you look at the history of much of the wealth of many royal families... so much has been taken and/or stolen or handed down over centuries. So much has been given to them by their own people, and from other countries, on behalf of their people.

I hope that some time in our future, people will stop believing that we can make demi-gods out of ordinary people who happen to be born in the right place and stop worshipping those who happen to have a certain name.

There are many other reasons why a country has a royal family, and I know that many royalty to so much for their 'people'... especially i see that the Thai royal family really does continue to give incredible amounts to thai people.

But, there are still too many poor and hungry... there are too many who just go with out. I dont ever blame the royal people, in any country, for this fact as i said its not their fault.

I put the blame squarely with all humanity for allowing our own brothers and sisters to continue go without basic health, education and a regular healthy meal.

I found more disturbing to see monarchs of tiny and insignificant places (insignificant in terms of local resources) in that list. Knowing from what kind of businesses they get such a wealth.

Rather annoyed also about the n.15 in cosnidering how Swaziland is faring in other basic human rights rankings.

The wealth of the Thai monarchy is at best a guesstimate. If it is wrong, it is probably wrong on the high side. And my guess is that a lot of the assets aren't "liquid."

Even if the monarchy were to give it all back to the state, with the way this country is being run, I doubt it would make any dent in poverty.

PeeMarc

I agree with your both comments competely... Just my mind too...And by the way, you always have very, very good comments!

according to a brand new report on the sultan of Brunei and the king of Thailand on german TV lately they said that the sultan is the worlds richest sovereign, followed by the king of Thailand. What the heck, in this case I just loved to be second...but I dont envy all those sovereigns.

The sultan of Brunei, so it is said, has got 55 brand new Porsches. At night time, when all his people is asleep, he takes a ride in of these 911s. Lonely Brunei rides, lonely lifes in my eyes If you cant share what you have, then wealth is not an aim.