The Duke of Westminster and the Grosvenor family have come second in this year's Sunday Times Rich List, coming behind Manchester United shareholder Sir Jim Ratcliffe.

Based on identifiable wealth - including land, property, other assets such as art and racehorses, or significant shares in publicly quoted companies - The Sunday Times Rich List 2026 charts the wealth of the 350 richest people in the UK.

The Grosvenor family, headed by the Duke of Westminster, owns the Eaton Estate near Chester as well as major property holdings in London through the Grosvenor Group. The family's Cheshire interests also include The Chester Grosvenor hotel in the city centre.

Published today (May 15), the list estimates the duke's fortune to be £9.677 billion, a dip of £207 million from the previous year.

Sir Jim Ratcliffe tops the Northwest list, with his 29 per cent stake in Manchester United FC worth £1.4 billion.

Representing about a quarter of the UK's total annual GDP, this year's list of 350 individuals and families together holds combined wealth of £783.5 billion - a sum larger than the annual GDP of Belgium ($776 billion), Sweden ($760 billion) and Israel ($719 billion).

Sir Elton John, Lord Lloyd-Webber, Sir Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, JK Rowling, Charlotte Tilbury and Sir Lewis Hamilton all appear in the annual survey.

The minimum entry level dipped to £340 million - another indicator of a subdued year.

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Robert Watts, compiler of the Sunday Times Rich List, described this year's breakdown as a "tale of two exoduses", with one in six of the individuals and families who appeared on the list two years ago no longer featuring this time.

He said: "Many foreign billionaires who have been living in the UK have also dropped out because they have moved away. We have also seen a sharp rise in the number of British nationals now resident in Dubai, Switzerland and Monaco. As UK nationals these people remain on our Rich List - wherever they now live."

Watts pointed to the challenges posed by these two exoduses to the UK economy, raising questions of how much tax - if any - Rachel Reeves's Treasury will be able to extract from "affluent Brits who have now left the country".

"For nearly 40 years the Sunday Times Rich List has analysed the fortunes of Britain's most affluent people," he added. "We believe understanding where wealth lies and where it is being accumulated is a vital part of a functioning democracy.

"This year's edition shines a light on fortunes made from artificial intelligence, driverless cars and crypto-currencies as well as baby milk, make-up, hoodies and other everyday items. We know many of our readers find those rags-to-riches stories of entrepreneurs who started out with little more than a laptop and an idea particularly inspiring."