Prince Charles Or Vladimir Putin — Who’s Richer? One Of Them Makes Less Than You Think

Prince Charles is first in line to the throne of the centuries-old United Kingdom of Great Britain, and though the British Royal Family no longer has the political power it had back in Shakespeare’s day, the future King of England might be expected to rank among the richest men in the world.

But he doesn’t. A new report puts the personal fortune of Prince Charles at about $370 million. That’s plenty to live on by the standards of most people on Planet Earth. But compared to the world’s wealthiest people, Prince Charles remains a relative pauper.

While estimates of his net worth vary — a figure of $210 million is often cited as well — even if the $370 million figure is in the ballpark, the entire financial and real estate empire controlled by Charles, Prince of Wales, is barely a drop in the ocean compared to the world’s richest political leader — Russian strongman Vladimir Putin.

Putin, 62, has apparently profited considerably from his position as Russia’s chief executive. According to a report in Forbes Magazine, the Russian president possesses a staggering personal fortune of $70 billion.

That means controlling the world’s second-most powerful nuclear superpower is nearly as lucrative as founding the Microsoft corporation, as Putin’s $70 billion places him a mere $10 billion behind Bill Gates.

Gates, 58, with $80 billion to his name now ranks as the world’s second-richest individual, just a billion behind 74-year-old Mexican cell phone magnate Carlos Slim. But Putin’s colossal fortune makes him the third-richest person on the planet.

While most of 65-year-old Prince Charles’ personal wealth comes from a royal real estate inheritance, Vladimir Putin, according to Forbes, gets the largest portion of his estate from owning more than one-third of the giant Russian oil company Surgutneftegas, as well another large piece of a natural gas mega-firm, Gazprom.

Prince Charles, on the other hand, owes much of his personal net worth — which by other, competing estimates is as low as a paltry $60 million — to the Duchy of Corwall estate, a 200 square-mile property in England that was first set aside in the year 1337 by England’s King Edward III.

The 14th century king meant for the land holding to ensure the financial security of his son, Edward, who was then Prince of Wales. Every Prince of Wales since has been entitled to the land, which is now valued at more than $1 billion, and contains residential and commercial properties that generate income for their owner, Prince Charles.

Prince Charles also founded an organic food company in 1993, Duchy Originals, which has reportedly earned profits of about $4 million, though much of that money goes to charities.

While the sources of the Prince Charles fortune are mostly public record, figuring out exactly how much Vladimir Putin is worth can be far more difficult. Most Russian billionaires disguise their wealth in a vast network of phony “shell” corporations and offshore bank accounts.