The 2026 Sunday Times Rich List is here! And if you’re in the mood to hear what the ‘haves and have yachts’ have been banking over the last year, including the women soaring to the top of the chart (an one controversial couple), then please do read on.
This year’s list reveals there are now 157 billionaires in the UK, down from a peak of 177 in 2022 – something Robert Watts, the Rich List’s author, is labelling an “exodus of wealth”. But amid the billionaire ‘drop-off’, the pack is being led by Alannah Weston, who is now officially the richest woman in the UK with a stake in her family fortune of £18.939 billion.
If the name Weston rings vaguely familiar, that’s because the family are basically retail royalty; the 54-year-old Irish-Canadian businesswoman is a part of the dynasty behind Primark and Fortnum & Mason. She is the daughter of the late billionaire Galen Weston and Hilary Weston, and previously served as chair of Selfridges Group before stepping down after its sale in 2022.
Close behind her are is billionaire heiress (ok, so literally my dream job title) Kirsten Rausing (£14.26bn), brewing heir Charlene de Carvalho-Heineken (£10.215bn) and Bet365 founder Denise Coates (£9.728bn), who remains one of Britain’s richest self-made women after building the gambling company into a global empire.
Sitting right at the top of the Rich List overall this year is Sanjay and Dheeraj Hinduja and their family, whose fortune is estimated at a massive £38 billion. The billionaire brothers inherited the top spot following the death of their father, Gopi Hinduja, and now oversee parts of the sprawling Hinduja Group empire – a multinational business spanning oil, banking, technology, healthcare, property and energy across 48 countries. Despite keeping a relatively low public profile in the UK, the family has long been considered one of Britain’s wealthiest dynasties.
But arguably the most headline-grabbing names on this year’s list are David and Victoria Beckham, whose combined fortune has reportedly doubled over the past 12 months. According to The Sunday Times Rich List, the Beckhams are now worth around £500 million, thanks to Netflix documentaries, beauty launches and endless brand partnership. It’s an ironic entry, given so much of Victoria’s docuseries centred on how her clothing line was struggling financially – so, y’know, good for you Vicky!
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The Rich List also shows just how lucrative fame has become for younger women in entertainment. Dua Lipa appears in this year’s 40 Under 40 rankings with an estimated £150 million fortune at 30 years old, while Adele (who is 38) also features with £172 million. Elsewhere, fashion founders and beauty entrepreneurs are increasingly dominating the list, including fashion house Holland Cooper’s founder Jade Holland Cooper, who debuts with a reported £518 million fortune.
Meanwhile, AI and tech are also becoming major wealth generators, proving that the billionaire blueprint now looks very different from the old-school banking and property fortunes that once dominated the rankings.
It’s alright for some, eh?
