The Queen (now King Charles III) technically holds vast land in trust for the nation through the Crown Estate, not as personal property, including significant parts of central London (like Regent Street), over half the UK's foreshore, forests, farmland, and seabed, plus private estates like Balmoral and Sandringham (Duchies of Lancaster & Cornwall), with profits funding the state via the Sovereign Grant, though royal residences like Buckingham Palace are managed separately by the Royal Household.
As of 2026, there are 15 Commonwealth realms: Antigua and Barbuda, Australia, The Bahamas, Belize, Canada, Grenada, Jamaica, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, and the United Kingdom.
That's about 2000 million acres, better known as India. The Queen continues to legally own all the lands of Britain, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, 32 other members (around two-thirds) of the Commonwealth, and Antarctica.
Reports estimate the monarchy controls about 16% of Earth's land, roughly 6.6 billion acres spread across multiple continents. Most of this land is not privately owned, but held under the Crown Estate and royal duchies during the monarch's reign.
Though the monarch owns all Crown land in the country, it is divided in parallel with the "division" of the Crown among the federal and provincial jurisdictions, so that some lands within the provinces are administered by the relevant provincial Crown, whereas others are under the federal Crown.
Under the Aboriginal Land Rights Act 1983 (NSW), vacant Crown land can be granted as freehold to Aboriginal people if it is not lawfully used or occupied, required for an essential purpose or for residential land, or impacted by a registered application or determination of native title.
David Thomson and family had a total net worth of 72.7 billion U.S. dollars, representing the richest in Canada in 2024. Changpeng Zhao, co-founder and executive chairman of Binance, is the second-richest person in Canada, with a net worth of 63.7 U.S. dollars.
The House of Saud, which is the ruling royal family of Saudi Arabia, is reportedly the wealthiest family of the globe. Surpassing the combined fortunes of high-profile billionaires like Elon Musk, Mukesh Ambani, Adani, Narayana Murthy combined.
The largest landowner in the world currently is King Charles III of England. How much land does the Royal Family own? He and the British Royal Family own more than 6,600,000,000 acres of land around the world. They technically own many territories around the globe, amounting to 1/6 of the surface of the planet.
Only 9.7% of the total land is privately owned while the rest is Crown Land. The land is administered on behalf of the Crown by various agencies or departments of the government of Canada. The Canadian Act has no provision for any Canadian to own physical land in Canada. Canadians can only own an interest in an estate.
The largest single privately owned station is Anna Creek Station in South Australia, but the largest private landowner overall in Australia by total hectares is mining magnate Gina Rinehart, controlling over 9 million hectares through various companies like Hancock Agriculture and after acquiring S. Kidman & Co, with massive stations like Clifton Hills and a vast pastoral portfolio under her belt as of 2021-2025.
The present monarch is King Charles III, who has reigned since 8 September 2022. The monarch is represented at the federal level by the governor-general (currently Samantha Mostyn), in accordance with the Australian Constitution and letters patent from his mother and predecessor, Queen Elizabeth II.
As the financial crash has intensified, the British oligarchy has used its companies like Rio Tinto (in which Queen Elizabeth is the largest non-institutional shareholder) to increase its economic power through the control of raw materials.
The King will continue to, in strict legal terms, own all the lands of Britain, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, 32 other members (around two-thirds) of the Commonwealth, and Antarctica.
Today, the hereditary chiefs are not sovereign; according to the Supreme Court of Canada, the Crown holds sovereignty over the whole of Canada, including reservation and traditional lands.
The finances of the British royal family come from a number of sources. The monarch and some of his family are supported financially by means of the Sovereign Grant, which comes from profits from the Crown Estate, and which is intended to meet the costs of the sovereign's official expenditures.
The Pope, as head of the Catholic Church, is linked to around 177million acres globally, including churches, schools and missions. King Mohammed VI of Morocco also ranks highly, with holdings of 175million acres. Among non-royals, Gina Rinehart, Australia's richest woman, is the largest private individual landowner.
The British Royal Family is often described as the world's largest landholder, with King Charles III overseeing vast assets managed through the Crown Estate. Reports estimate that land linked to the monarchy covers around 16% of the Earth's surface, about 6.6 billion acres across multiple continents.
Red Emmerson and his family are the largest landowners in the U.S., with 2.4 million acres. Microsoft co-founder and billionaire Bill Gates owns the most farmland in the U.S., with over 260,000 acres in private agricultural land.
Elon Musk on track to become first trillionaire.
The wealthiest dynasties in the world have never been richer — and the Waltons lead the pack with a net worth of $513.4 billion.
The American business magazine Forbes produces a global list of known U.S. dollar billionaires every year and updates an internet version of this list in real time. The American oil magnate John D. Rockefeller became the world's first confirmed billionaire in 1916.
In January 2023, Sherry Brydson temporarily surpassed Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao as the richest Canadian on the Index, though she now sits 57 spots behind the controversial crypto tycoon on the global ranking, with a commanding hold on the title of Canada's wealthiest woman and second-richest person.
How much money you need to be considered wealthy across the U.S.—it's over $2 million in most places. To be considered wealthy in the U.S., Americans say you need a net worth of $2.3 million in 2025 — but that number can be even higher depending on where you live.