Princess Charlotte richest kid in the world with billions: Fact Check

Born with a royal silver spoon, Prince William and Kate Middleton’s only daughter Princess Charlotte is easily one of the most privileged children in the world, but is she also the richest?

A few months ago, social media ran wild with claims that Charlotte was worth a staggering $5 billion, making her not only richer than her siblings, Princes George and Louis, but also the richest in the world, apparently.

But as the age old adage goes: don’t believe everything you read on the internet! While Princess Charlotte is certainly no pauper, but she is also not a billionaire.

In 2022, Reader’s Digest ran a story diving into the net worth of individual members of the Royal Family, estimating real figures for senior members, but with little information available about the royal children, made estimates about their net worth based on their ‘value to the UK economy’.

As per the story, the three children of the heir to the throne, Prince William, could be worth an estimated combined total of some $9 billion (with George’s worth $3.6 billion, Charlotte’s $5 billion, and Louis’ $70 million—$125 million), but this figure would be a gross overestimation based on the model used by the publication.

Reader’s Digest explained their reasoning for these numbers, saying, “The reason for Charlotte’s incredibly high value is in large part due to her fashion influence. Deemed as the ‘Charlotte effect,’ a yellow pastel patterned cardigan worn by the princess from a popular British department store sold out in 24 hours.”

They went on to however share a disclaimer about this model of valuation, adding, “Since the royal children haven’t physically received inheritances (or worked a day in their life), their net worth is calculated by their value to the UK economy. Because the children have the potential to drive billions in sales, their net worth have been determined as so…”

But the reality is, the children may never see such huge figures in their bank accounts at least, especially not because of their ‘value to the UK economy’. This is simply because as working royals, the royal family cannot personally capitalize on their so-called brand value.

As Newsweek’s royal correspondent Jack Royston explained, “Charlotte is likely destined for a career as a working royal… If she takes on official duties she will never get the chance to capitalize on her potential value to the economy because royals are public servants and cannot trade off the monarchy.”

“Even if she does break away she would never be able to capture 100 percent of the value she would contribute to the economy,” he added.

Royston drove the point home with a brilliant example, that of Meghan Markle and Prince Harry, who are only able to profit off of their personal fame now that they’ve stepped away from the royal family.

So, there you have it. While Princess Charlotte definitely does not have to struggle for money, she is not the richest kid in the world, and especially not worth $5 billion!