Saturday, August 23, 2008

It's Good to be the King


The life of a king has its ups and downs. Louis XVI at Place de Concorde. Bad. Same for Nicholas II in a small Ural town. Bad. But normally it's good to be the king and Forbes magazine ranked the ruling monarchs according to wealth. The Thai Foreign Ministry was quick to deny the report that His Majesty the King as the world's richest monarch with an estimated fortune of US$35 billion, although the magazine noted that 2008 was a bonus year for the rulers, whose assets increased from $93 billion to $131 billion mostly thanks to the oil riches of the Middle East and Asia dominate the list.

The rest of the list included Sheik Khalifa, 60, the head of the United Arab Emirates with $23 billion, Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz, 84 with $21 billion, Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah of Brunei lost a position despite his $20 billion, and fifth came Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid of Dubai, with $18 billion.

All that money and you can't go out and have a beer without someone wanting something from you.

Still it is good to be the King.

No comments: