Is Princess Charlotte the richest child in the world?

Princess Charlotte has been described as the richest child in the world with a net worth in the billions—but in reality these figures are wildly overstated.

The nine-year-old royal is certainly destined for a life free from the pressures ordinary people face, such as rising grocery bills and the threat of corporate cuts.

However, figures for her net worth quoted on TikTok appear to stem from an estimate not of her own riches but of her value to the U.K. economy, which she may in reality never be allowed to profit from.

Princess Charlotte’s Net Worth According to TikTok Posts

A TikTok video posted on Saturday carried on-screen captions that read: “With a net worth of almost $8 billion, Princess Charlotte is the richest person in the most powerful royal family in history.

“Princess Charlotte is the richest kid on earth. Princess Charlotte is worth more money than the Kardashians all put together.”

The clip was liked 358,000 times and viewed 2 million times. It begins with footage of Charlotte’s name being announced on Britain’s Sky News.

Another video liked 32,000 times and viewed 677,000 times carried the caption: “Name a kid richer than Princess Charlotte. I’ll wait.”

And those are not the only examples as TikTok has been peppered with other content making similar bold claims about the princess’ relative wealth.

Origin of the Princess Charlotte Net Worth Claim

The TikTok figures for Charlotte’s net worth appear to stem from a Reader’s Digest article that tried to give real net worth figures for other royals, but adopted a different approach for the princess and her siblings.

With little concrete information publicly available, it read: “Prince George is estimated at a net worth of $3 billion and Prince Louis is estimated between $70 million and $125 million.

“Princess Charlotte, however, takes the cake from the entire family with a whopping $5 billion. The reason for Charlotte’s incredibly high value is in large part due to her fashion influence.”

“Since the royal children haven’t physically received inheritances (or worked a day in their life),” it added, “their net worths are calculated by their value to the U.K. economy.”

In other words, the figures quoted are not even estimates of her actual wealth, income, savings or assets but rather her capacity to drive up the profits of fashion brands.

Princess Charlotte’s Actual Net Worth

Charlotte is likely destined for a career as a working royal unless her parents plan to disrupt the normal course of royal life and try to find a new path for her.

If she does take on official duties she will never get the chance to capitalize on her potential value to the economy because royals are public servants and cannot trade off the monarchy.

Even if she does break away she would never be able to capture 100 percent of the value she would contribute to the economy, which is likely overstated in the Reader’s Digest piece anyway.

To make the point succinctly, Meghan was also viewed as a fashion icon during her time as a working royal and is now trading off her fame in the private sector alongside Prince Harry.

Yet the same Reader’s Digest article estimates Harry’s net worth as a meager $10 million, which is likely a little on the low side as it is based entirely on his inheritance from Princess Diana.

Needless to say, the most outlandish estimates bandied about by the media for Harry and Meghan’s earnings outside the firm struggle measure in the low hundreds of millions and do not come anywhere near the billions cited for Charlotte. In reality, many of the biggest figures for Sussexes are likely exaggerated.

In reality, Charlotte will live off a mixture of money she inherits and the annual proceeds from royal property portfolios.

Currently, her parents, Prince William and Princess Kate, are funded by the Duchy of Cornwall, valued at £1.2 billion, which makes around $30 million in surplus a year.

This pot of cash will in time also be used to fund the couple’s children until William becomes king, at which point he will pass the Duchy of Cornwall on to George.

William will then be funded by the Duchy of Lancaster, a £648 million ($800 million) estate, generating an annual income of around $34 million from which he will also fund Charlotte and Louis.

William pays a voluntary tax rate on Duchy of Cornwall income said to be roughly equivalent to income tax, substantially reducing the amount he takes home.

It is still a lot of money by any ordinary person’s standards but is a far cry from the dizzying figures quoted on TikTok.

Royal wills are not made public in Britain, making it hard to be sure whether Charlotte inherited money when Prince Philip and Queen Elizabeth II died.

Either way, the most realistic and accurate way to frame her wealth is via the overall net worth of the Wales family.

Therefore, currently, Charlotte is part of a family funded by the proceeds from a £1.2 billion estate—it just isn’t all hers.

Jack Royston is chief royal correspondent for Newsweek, based in London. You can find him on X, formerly Twitter, at @jack_royston and read his stories on Newsweek’s The Royals Facebook page.

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