The collective wealth of Britain's 1,000 richest people went up by nearly 15 percent last year, and more than half the country's 75 billionaires are foreign-born, according to a list published by the Sunday Times newspaper.
The newspaper's annual Rich List ranked steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal as Britain's wealthiest man for the fourth year running. It put the Indian-born tycoon's fortune at 27.7 billion pounds, or $55 billion, up more than 8 billion pounds from last year. Russian oil magnate Roman Abramovich, owner of London's Chelsea soccer team, was in second place, with wealth of 11.7 billion pounds, or $23.2 billion. The Duke of Westminster was in third place with 7 billion pounds ($14 billion). The Briton owns huge parcels of land in central London and elsewhere.
Queen Elizabeth II — the country's richest person when the Rich List was first published in 1989 — now ranks 264th, with a personal wealth of 320 million pounds ($640 million). The estimate no longer includes the vast royal art collection, which is now considered to belong to the nation.