The World’s Biggest Landowner

Queen Elizabeth II is well known for many things; the biggest one likely being that she is the Queen of the United Kingdom. But the royal family also owns plenty of real estate — and that includes acres and acres of land. It begs the question: Is the queen the biggest landowner in the world?

If you thought you had a big backyard, think again. Queen Elizabeth II holds title to roughly 6.6 billion acres of land throughout the world. For reference, that’s about one-sixth of the land on the entire planet. Most of the land falls under the Crown Estate, which essentially operates as a real estate business. According to The Independent, all of the profits of the Crown Estate go to the United Kingdom’s Treasury, but it should be noted that the queen receives 15% of those profits. (Real estate has played a major role in the royal family’s net worth.) In the U.K., the queen’s real estate operations hold more than $16 billion in property. This includes many of the royal family’s residences, including Buckingham Palace, Kensington Palace, and Windsor Castle.

The queen owns a lot of property, but it isn’t all empty land or fancy homes. The Independent also reported that she owns 14 retail and shopping parks along with three shopping centers in the U.K. The retail, residential, and office space around Regent Street and St. James’ Place in London is also owned by the queen.

She is, by far, the world’s largest landowner

Queen Elizabeth is far and away the world’s largest landowner. It would be hard to surpass her impressive 6.6 billion acres. The closest to her on that front is King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, who owns a mere 547 million acres. (Yes, that’s still impressive, but nowhere near the queen’s 6.6 billion.)

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