
Richer than a king: Inside the $1.1B fortune of Rishi Sunak, the U.K.’s new prime minister
Global News
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and his wife Akshata Murty are listed as the 222nd richest people in the U.K. by the Sunday Times Rich List.
Rishi Sunak, the U.K.’s new prime minister, is turning heads for a number of reasons. He’s England’s first prime minister of colour, its third head of government in less than two months and he’s also now the youngest world leader in the G20 at just 42 years old. And to add to that impressive resumé, he’s one of the wealthiest people in Britain.
Sunak is so rich that he left the Guardian wondering if he’s actually too rich to be prime minister. He’s so rich that, for the first time in history, the occupants of 10 Downing St. will be richer than those of Buckingham Palace.
Sunak, a former Goldman Sachs banker and hedge fund manager, and his wife, Indian heiress Akshata Murty, have a combined fortune of around 730 million pounds, according to the Sunday Times Rich List, which ranks him as the 222nd wealthiest person in the U.K. By Canadian standards, Sunak is a billionaire, with his wealth converting to around $1.13 billion.
By comparison, King Charles III and Camilla, Queen Consort, have a combined net worth of between 300 to 350 million pounds, which is around $465 to 540 million, according to the Guardian. Before her passing, the Sunday Times estimated the queen had a fortune of 370 million pounds, or about $575 million.
That means that Sunak is worth more than the queen and the King combined.
The majority of Sunak’s wealth came through his 2009 marriage to Murty, with whom he has two daughters. The tech heiress owns a 700-million pound stake in her father’s IT company, Infosys, according to the BBC. Murty’s father Narayana is one of India’s best-known businessmen and has been dubbed “the Bill Gates of India.”
Earlier this year, Sunak and his wife came under the microscope when it was discovered she was filing her taxes as a “non-domiciled” resident, despite living in Downing Street apartments. The tax loophole allowed her to avoid paying British taxes on her substantial foreign income, which is around 11.6 million pounds ($18 million) in annual dividends from Infosys, though Murty announced she would stop the practice.
The couple owns at least three homes in Britain, including a five-bedroom house in west London and a Georgian manor in North Yorkshire, as well as a US$6-million property in Santa Monica, Calif.