Monarchy wealth

[tali1]

Historically , how wealthy was a Monarch ? -by that i mean personal wealth rather than assets that are state owned such as works of art , palaces etc
We know the Queen is not the wealthiest citizen of UK - but has that always been the case with the Monarchy? How many people iuring the reign of any UK monarch would have been richer?
I belive Henry 8th was the richest monarch - but were there people at the time richer than him?

[dotty.]

I think the clue is in the word 'citizen' but carry on, who is the wealthiest UK citizen then?

[scotman]

As far as I can recall during the time of Q Victoria the monarchy was skint. It was only since then that wealth has been accumulated.

[Mosaic]

In the time when monarchs - dictators - like Henry VIII ruled, esp when they started to go off their rockers, seeming richer / cleverer / more attractive was very very ill-advised, so aristocrats tended not to flaunt their wealth and to use it purely as a means of ingratiating themselves with the monarch rather than rivalling them in any way.
If you take land ownrship as a measure of real wealth, then some of the aristocratic families of northern england and east anglia would give the monarch a run for their money -oops no pun intended.
Earlier in the middle ages, Jewish merchants lent huge amounts to cash-strapped kings, who masked their reluctance to pay up on the terms agreed by inciting pogroms and expelling all Jews from england.
Yet again in the early 1800's the Prince Regent's / Ki g George IV's spendthrift ways were only brought under control because Parliament refused to give him money - something they were able to do because political processes had developed beyond dictatorship and towards parliamentary democracy.

[vivandorron]

A few interesting links:-

http://www.independen...eally-own-606171.html

http://www.richest-people.co.uk/

Ron.

[starone]

No wonder they all look so cheerful ron.

[scotman]

I believe that for most of the time of Victoria the monarchy was virtually skint.