UK Rich List: who got wealthier in 2022 and who lost money?

Who are the richest British people in 2022? We look at the differences in the wealth of UK billionaires, celebrities, and young stars from 2021 through 2022. We also show how they chose to spend their cash in the past year.

Ratcliffe was raised in a council home, set up the petrochemicals company Ineos and became the UK’s richest man. He was knighted by the Queen for services to business and investment then found a strange way to repay the honour...

Ratcliffe swiftly left the country to live in Monaco where the tax haven will save him £4bn in UK tax payments. An interesting way to repay the country’s tax and social system that paid for his childhood home and grammar schooling.

He bought a football team - the Swiss team Lausanne - and also took over the French club OGC Nice. He has invested in the America’s cup, competitive cycling, marathons and Mercedes for Formula One. He doesn’t stop at sport, however, and bought the British fashion brand, Belstaff, too.

The business tycoon has two super yachts, Hampshire I and Hampshire II and has a home down the road from princess Alix Napoleon herself on the Bonaparte Imperial estate in Geneva. Ratcliffe also likes to splash out on adventure and has made trips to both the North and South poles, and went on a month-long motorbike trip in South Africa in 2015. Mr Ratcliffe bought a huge plot with a pretty house in the rugged, rural part of Iceland where he likes to escape to do a spot of fishing.

The Hinduja Group consists of the Hinduja brothers who have made their fortune by buying into pretty much everything. They have business ranging from trucks to lubricants to banking and even TV.
Photo: Prince of Wales meets Gopichand Hinduja at a charity event.

Siblings Srichand and Gopichand live in London, Prakash resides in Monaco while the youngest brother, Ashok, oversees their Indian interests from Mumbai.

The siblings have always lived by their family’s golden rule, “Everything belongs to everyone and nothing belongs to anyone.” But in 2020, there was evidence that, behind the scenes, all is not so united.

There has been a legal dispute about the company’s Swiss bank, for which the eldest brother, Srichand, is trying to claim sole ownership (for him, his daughter - the chairman; and her son - the CEO)

They have a lot of their cash invested in London properties. One of their homes includes Carlton House Terrace located near Buckingham Palace. The property is worth an estimated $500 million, making it the third most expensive private home in the world.

They also own the historic Old War Office building in Whitehall, which will become a a five-star hotel and a set of private apartments. Despite their obvious fortune, the brothers last year used taxpayers’ cash to furlough staff at their bus firm.

Platt is one of the few billionaires to have done really well this year. The mogul formerly worked for JP Morgan until he turned his attention to investments in his BlueCrest fund. The company is now a really successful Hedge Fund office that employs over 500, allowing him to up his earnings by $5 billion since last year.

(Photo: Bloomberg)

Platt was introduced to investing by his grandmother and then, at 14 year old, he invested £500 in a shipping line that then went on to triple in price. He has an eye for investments and even managed to avoid the financial crisis of 2008 by predicting it in 2007 and taking all the necessary precautions.

He is now married and lives in Geneva, Switzerland, but also has property elsewhere in the globe including a large penthouse in London and an apartment on Central Park South in New York (worth $14 million).

Michael Platt has an impressive art collection - and no, not at his home - but in a private showroom in the crypt of a deconsecrated church at One Marylebone. He commissions the art from well-known artists such as sculptor Keith Tyson and taxidermist Polly Morgan. One of his largest pieces of art is his super yacht, Arrow, which was built in 2020 and is a beauty to behold.

(Photo: SuperYachtFan)

Despite the company investing around $10 million a week in product development, James Dyson himself has still managed to put aside a healthy sum for himself personally.

It all started when he was young and felt annoyed that his family vacuum wouldn’t pick up the first as well as he could. He doesn’t have an engineering degree but has created some of the world’s most popular products, from vacuums to hair straighteners and air purifiers.

‘Thanks but no thanks’ was what James Dyson was told by the UK government in 2020 just after the first wave of the coronavirus hit. The project, which cost Dyson $24 million (and the public taxpayers $0) came about when the NHS were struggling to provide ventilators in hospitals during the first wave of the pandemic. But the government, who initially placed 10,000 orders of Dyson’s new CoVent ventilator product, cancelled the order and accused Dyson of ‘point scoring’.

James Dyson has a lavish country home in a Georgian estate in Dodington Park. It is simply enormous, boasting 300 acres of countryside beauty, and is large enough to fit nearly 18,00 normal-sized homes.

He also bought ‘Singapore’s most expensive flat’ - a five-bedroom, three floor penthouse at the top of the 64 story Guoco Tower for $44 million, but reportedly sold it at the end of 2020.

Denise, alongside her brother, John, is co-CEO of Bet365, one of the world’s largest gambling sites. She started out by buying the domain name and launching the website and has since increased her salary every year (save this year of course), earning $700 million in 2020, making her the highest paid British CEO (and the highest taxpayer in Britain).

Mrs Coates is well underway with the construction of her new home in Cheshire. When you're betting on the app, you help Denise realise this dream house that she spent £5.5 million alone buying up the 12 different plots of land and then hired the very best architects to design it.

Featuring a lot of glass and steel, the house will look modern and space-like (not surprising, considering the architects are renowned for skyscrapers and airports). There is a 7,000 square metre artificial lake, a boat house, a sunken tennis court with viewing area, stables, cycle paths and a glass lake house. Impressive.

Bono, lead singer of U2, earnt some good money from his tours and music, but actually earnt most of his dough through real estate (and Facebook investments). He converted the Clarence hotel in Dublin into a five-star luxury venue and owns many other properties in Ireland.

Bono has created the ONE Campaign, DATA, (RED) and EDUN and has made it on the Forbes generosity list for his work in Debt AIDS Trade Africa (DATA). Last year he donated €10 million to the coronavirus fight in Ireland. The money was used to buy PPE for staff.

Harry Potter creator, J.K. Rowling had a tough stint - she moved to Portugal, got married, had a child, got divorced and returned to the UK, unemployed and on welfare. She took the book to a number of different publishers who rejected it. It was finally picked up and because the multi-billion pound empire we know today. Rowling is now one of the wealthiest women in the UK.

J.K. Rowling, although being the first author in the world to achieve billionaire status, is very quiet about her private affairs and finances. She has, in fact, even denied being a billionaire.

J.K. Rowling has secretly given over $150 million to charities and also spent some of the money on herself, buying a £2.25million mansion in Edinburgh.

The Beatles. Iconic, significant and one of the most successful groups in history. They broke multiple sales records and McCartney penned most of them, alongside Lennon. He found more solo success after the Beatles than any of the others in the group and his concerts even today are sold out instantly. He now earns most of his money from royalties, despite still raking in $70 million a tour.

Paul owns at least $100 million worth of real estate around the globe, including a townhouse in New York that looks out over the Museum of Modern Art; a Beverly Hills mansion worth $4 million; a ranch in Arizona; and a whopping $15.5 million Manhattan Penthouse.

The 28 year old actress is best known for her role in Killing Eve where she raked in £100k for EACH episode. Before that she had already appeared in a number of TV shows and mini-series and has a long string of awards to her name, including the BAFTA for Best Actress. She was said to make £1.5 million from her 2021 film, ‘Free Guy’, in which she starred alongside Ryan Reynolds.

None of that. Jodie Comer still lives in her family home with her parents and her brother. She likes being a home girl and relishes in spending quiet time with her family when she isn’t filming and working. “…I’ve actually been able to come home, unpack like seven suitcases because I haven't been here, and I've thrown out so much rubbish… To have a bit of stillness, and be stationary, I'm actually really kind of… I'm a bit embarrassed to say I'm kind of enjoying it.”

She is just 23 years old and, thanks to her 'Game of Thrones' role, has made it to the UK millionaire list. She reportedly earned £158k for each episode of Game of Thrones. In fact, she initially auditioned for the role of Arya in GOT because she really wanted to buy herself a new laptop. Now she can buy many.

Masie got together with Dom Santry, a film producer who shared her passion for a new talent discovery app. You establish a profile and then look for projects based on location or other factors and showcase your work. Santry said about his co-founder, “I think her role is going to become one of, culturally, like: where does Daisie stand? What do we stand for? Who do we work with? What do we represent? How do we help creators everywhere? That’s mainly what Maisie wants to make sure Daisie does.”

Four-time Oscar nominated Saorise Ronan has graced our screens in a number of well-known films and series. What really pushed her into the spotlight was her role in ‘Atonement’; but she has excelled in every thing she has acted in. In fact, when Peter Jackson cast her as the lead character in his film The Lovely Bones (2009), they were so impressed by the audition tape she sent in, that they did not even meet her prior to offering her the role.

Saoirse Ronan was born in New York but then moved to Dublin when she was three. Her parents are both Irish and she only holds Irish citizenship; but, she resides in London, UK (in a very swanky $1.5 million home), so made it onto our list. Saoirse is an ambassador for the “Irish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children and she has spoken out about political and social issues in Ireland.

$18m at only 25 years old, you ask? That is what you get when you’re Spiderman. It’s pretty much thanks to the Marvel Studios films that have given Tom Holland a place on our list. In fact, he earned $3m alone for his appearance in “Avengers: Endgame”. He’s come a long way from his first job in the West End production of “Billy Elliot the Musical”. He is even in the running to play the next James Bond.

Who will be the next 007: a list of likely candidates

Tom Holland spent some of his money buying a flat very close to where he grew up in London. He humorously told Ellen DeGeneres that the most stressful part was getting all the furniture, but he made sure the place was decorated with Spiderman POP figurines.

Aside from a few Audis and a motorbike, Tom Holland has given a large chunk of his money to charities, buying school busses for children in Africa to go to school and fighting less-known diseases. Rich and a heart of gold. Oh, and he’s Spiderman.

Of course, we all know Nicholas Hoult from a number of big roles, including the X-Men film franchise, where he plays Beast. But who can forget that baby face when he acted opposite Hugh Grant in ‘About a Boy’ when he was just a little kid. But more recently, everyone if binging on the new series, ‘The Great’, which stars Hoult and Elle Fanning bringing to life the story of Catherine the Great.

Nicholas Hoult definitely has no problem paying the bills. He is also the face of Emporio Armani fragrances which probably fetches a good salary. He is quiet about his private life, but probably spends his spare cash on his family. He has a three year old son with model partner Bryana Holly.

Another Game of Thrones Character to add to our list. She as become richer not only in money. She is to shortly give birth to her second child with Joe Jonas. Together, they have a substantial net worth of around $50 million. Not surprising when you look at the success of the Jonas Brothers and the fact that Turner earned an estimated $175,000 per episode in GOT.

Sophie is also one of the faces of Louis Vuitton but how much she earns for that hasn’t been disclosed, but she regularly wears their clothes on the red carpet and has done a few Instagram ads for them, so one would assume she’s getting a fair penny from them, too.She has some money invested, and has only notable splashed her cash on two weddings: one in LA (where Elvis married them) and one in a Chateau in France.

Although many sources tell us her net worth could be more in the region of $20 million, there is one thing that is very clear: Ridely made her acting debut in the Star Wars films and shot to fame and fortune very quickly. Before she got the role as Rey in the Star Wars franchise, she was working in a pub on minimum wage.

Daisy Ridley splashed out on a beautiful home in Primrose Hill, London. She tried to keep the location quiet but posted a few photos of the apartment on Instagram, meaning fans got a little glimpse of where the property was. Subsequently, fans started to turn up at her doorstep. Needless to say, she moved house and has not disclosed where to.

Within the top 10 of the richest UK celebrities under 30, Sam Smith has made all that money from being an exceptionally talented and brilliant musician and artist. In endorsements alone, the singer/entertainer gets around $1.8 million a year.

Sam Smith’s popularity decreased though in 2020 as the pandemic hit. In the early stages of lockdown, the singer posted about the various stages of lockdown ‘meltdown’ which had annoyed fans as Sam Smith is definitely more privileged than most. Smith responded on Heart Breakfast: ‘I posted with my humour and stuff, but it just didn’t get picked up very well, but I didn’t mean any malice by it at all.'

From Oxford Stagecoach Theatre school, to one of the most popular actresses of out rime. And she is just 30 years old. Watson was in no way typecast after spending much of her life playing Hermione Granger in the Harry Potter franchise and has worked on many films and projects. In fact, she received a staggering $17 million alone for her role as Belle in ‘Beaty and the Beast’.

In a 2017 interview with Vanity Fair, Watson revealed that due to concerns with privacy, she purchased a home with a paparazzi-proof entrance. She is so careful that she bought the house over Skype with a real estate agent without having ever seen it first. (She had had numerous situations with stalkers over the years.)

But, aside from pretty properties and some very helpful advice, she absolutely shares some of her cash on her activist projects, being a Goodwill Ambassador for women’s rights.

The boys, who started out on the X-Factor talent show have done very well, indeed. Together they amount a net worth of $340 million. They all have done outstandingly well with solo careers and branding etc but one of the group’s members has exceeded the rest in terms of how much he is worth, by quite some distance.

Styles has a reported net worth of $80 Million. He actually added most of that since launching his solo career. Owning his own record firm, he has already raked in over £28 million from that venture alone, not to mention his singing and modelling career (and now acting!) He hasn’t been able to do his tour yet, due to the pandemic, so when that dosh comes rolling in, he will truly be very high on the list of richest UK stars under 30.

He has bought three properties in the same area in London - Hamstead - one of which, according to sources, is only used for his extensive wardrobe. The property is under constant surveillance and he can view every item in his huge clothes archive on his iPad. He also has some notable cars in his collection including a Ferrari California, a classic convertible red Jaguar E-Type, a classic Mercedes-Benz, a Range Rover Sport and an Audi R8 Coupe. Impressive

The wealthiest young musician in the UK. Just from his tours in a year, he can earn up to $100 million. His "Divide" tour grossed $780 million between March 2017 and August 2019. He has come a long way from the local choir he sang in when growing up in Framingham.

Sheeran has admitted he is quite scared of sports cars because they go so fast, although he has bought a few luxury automobiles including an Aston Martin DB9. But he’s more of a teddybear/toy guy. In one spree at Toys R Us in 2016, he racked up a £2,000 bill on a pirate ship, wheelie shoes, a Nerf gun and other such fun things.

Ed was crashing at his mates’ houses ten years ago, but he now owns an insane 27 properties across the UK, including his 16 acre Suffolk estate. It’s a millionaire’s playground, with a giant tree house, pond, hot tub, swimming pool – and even his own PUB, which is ­connected to the house by a tunnel. He also built a bungalow on the other side and a four bedroom house at the front. Phew. He is investing his wealth well to make sure his new born daughter, Lyra, receives a healthy inheritance.