Helicopters, bodyguards and £20,000 handbags: how London's multi-millionaires spend their riches

London has more multi-millionaires than any other world city — Rosamund Urwin explains why, while Joshi Herrmann reveals their life of riches
P33 Rolls Royce
13 May 2013

Is London a luxury resort?” asked the Harvard economist Edward Glaeser in his recent book, Triumph of the City. It may not feel like it as your nose is squished into BO Boy’s armpit on a packed Central line train but the global super-rich seem to think so.

According to research from Wealth Insight, our capital boasts more multi-millionaires — that’s folk jammy enough to have more than $30 million (£19 million) floating around — than any other city in the world. Some 4,224 of them call London home, trumping Tokyo (3,525), Singapore (3,154) and New York (2,929). Though some will be Britain-born, many flock here from overseas.

And it’s not just the Qatari sheiks, football club owners and steel tycoons whose names will be familiar to those who peruse the Sunday Times’s Rich List: there are plenty with shallower but still bulging pockets, including many from the Continent who fled euro-geddon. As super-investor Warren Buffett noted this week: “The rich have come back strong from the 2008 panic.”

But why are so many congregating in the capital? Apart from that famous Samuel Johnson line, there’s our nation’s tax regime which still looks rather generous. Despite efforts to close loopholes, the taxman won’t be getting its hands on much income tax from London’s plutocrats, whose bean-counters have a knack of keeping bills low. Throw in the current favourable exchange rates and Britain has plenty of pecuniary appeal to those who have no need to watch the pennies.

London has a long list of other selling points too, of course. There’s the time zone, the language, security and the world-class schools. The highbrow pleasures of the V&A, the Royal Academy and our architecture, all born out of and fed by urban innovation. But wealth draws in wealth too. Not only do shops, bars and restaurants spring up to pander to the whims of the ultra-wealthy, but as Glaeser notes of the absolute elite: “One reason why billionaires favour places like London ... is that they get to hang out with other billionaires, who can emphathise with their special trials and tribulations.”

In that most exclusive club, though — those whose bank balance could boast nine zeroes — London still lags behind New York, with 54 to our transatlantic rival’s 70. Given how great a place London is to be rolling in the lucre, I’d bet it won’t be long till we catch up.

Rosamund Urwin

HOW THEY SPEND IT

Where they live — in £8 million houses

Kensington Palace Gardens is the most desirable street — steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal bought his “Taj Mahal” for £57 million — but technically South Kensington’s Egerton Crescent is the UK’s most expensive street, with an average house price of £8 million.

Getting around — £11,000 per month

A 15-minute trip by helicopter to Ascot and back will cost £2,970 with Quintessentially’s aviation service, and a return to Cheltenham (45 mins each way) will be £3,850. A chauffeured Jaguar XJs? £480 for the day, £2,500 per week.

Gifts to give — £78,000 phone

From Harrods, a Dior Reverie mobile phone with diamonds — £78,000. Or a Rolan Iten Mechanically Performing Credit Card for £11,000 — basically a fancy credit card holder.

Club fees — £2,250

The new Annabel’s is 5 Hertford Street, Robin Birley’s private club that is a one-stop shop of restaurants, bars and private rooms where the Cambridges have been known to hang out and membership costs £1,500 a year, with a £750 joining fee.

Education— £3,300 per child per month

One millionaire is spending £25,000 per year on tutoring to prepare his child for one of the big private schools – that’s £480 per week, on top of his £300 per week prep school fees. Westminster is London’s most expensive school at £31,350 a year (boarding).

Playing it safe

You can hire a bodyguard for £350 a day from Private Security Services.

The fixer — £1,000 per month

Quintessentially charges its elite members £12,000 a year for its team of personal “lifestyle managers”, 24/7. Recently it got a Chelsea footballer to wish a member’s son happy birthday.

Eating out

Novikov on Berkeley Street is the most expensive London opening of recent years, and full of the ex-Soviet super-rich paying £88 for 20g of Oscieria caviar in gunkan sushi and £65 for Marbled Australian Wagyu beef.

Dressing up

Louis Vuitton has a private apartment at its Bond Street store for special customers while Harrods whisks valued clients up to its penthouse, where they can browse Balenciaga black alligator bags at £20,000-plus or an Alexander McQueen dress for £31,600.

And how they sleep at night ...

In a limited edition Royal Bed from Savoir Beds costing £125,000 — while Belgravia bespoke bed linen boutique L&B can fit your bed with linen for £2,500, comprising two cotton and lace sheets and two pillow cases.

Joshi Herrmann

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