Royal Family, How much Kate Middleton and Prince William would likely earn if they weren’t royals

Royal Family, How much Kate Middleton and Prince William would likely earn if they weren’t royals

As the queen celebrates her Platinum Jubilee this June, it’s safe to say The Royal Family has become the benchmark for success and wealth, surrounded by opulence, riches and jewels.

But with support for the royal family dwindling and a fifth of Britons in support of abolishing the monarchy—how well could the royals fare if they had to survive in today’s job market and rely on their university degrees—as so many of us do?

Experts from WellBox can exclusively reveal the potential earnings of each royal family member based on their university degrees—as well as the mind-blowing difference between those earnings and their estimated net worth!

The Results

Prince William is Crowned As The Royal With The Potential for highest earnings—based on his university degree!

Prince William ranks first as the royal with the potential for highest earnings—based on his university degree—where he graduated with an MA in Geography. If the prince were born into a different family, he may have instead become a commercial surveyor or environmental consultant, with the potential to earn up to £ 115,000 a year—almost TRIPLE the potential salary for his father—Prince Charles!

Despite his estimated net worth standing at £ 30.5 million, most typical geography graduates earn an average annual salary of £ 50,000 a year—meaning Prince William would still be earning 46 percent more than the average salary for the British public (£ 31,461) if he were to enter into this field.

Eye-Wateringly Close In Their Potential Earnings

In third place, Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, graduated from Northwestern University with a BA in Theatre and International Relations. As an international aid worker or theatre stage manager, Meghan could have earned up to £ 50,000 a year, but instead pursued a career in acting where she was rumoured to have earned £ 350,000 a year—double the potential salary of her brother in law,  Prince William!

Ranking fourth in the list with an MA in History of Art from St. Andrews University, Catherine, The Duchess of Cambridge could have instead made her fortune as an arts heritage manager or administrator—earning up to £ 70,000 a year, but with an average annual salary of £ 30,000 for more entry-level positions. Despite having a reported net-worth of £ 10 million—it would take the Duchess 143 years to earn this fortune based on her university degree alone!

Prince Charles Comes Last With The lowest earning university degree, 10,000 years to match net worth. With the highest estimated net worth on the list at £ 400 million, it may be surprising that Prince Charles would receive the lowest salary based on his university degree, earning a whopping 200% less than his net worth.

The future king graduated from the University of Cambridge with an MA in History, Archaeology and Anthropology—a field in which typical graduates earn an average annual salary of £ 22,000 a year—or £ 41,000 at the highest end. Rather than ruling the country, Prince Charles could have become an archaeologist or community development worker, but it would take him almost 10,000 years to match his estimated net worth!

We kindly ask that if you choose to use this data, you include a link to the company that conducted the research: WellBox, as a linked credit allows us to keep providing you with future content that you may find useful.

Methodology

1. WellBox were keen to discover how much members of the British royal family could earn from their university degrees alone.
   
   
2. To do so, a list of the British royal family was taken from Royal.uk—the official website of the royal household.
   
   
3. The education history of each royal family member was then taken from the Biography section of Royal.uk. Any royals who did not attend or graduate from university or where data was not available were omitted from the list.
   
   
4. Well Box utilised reliable data source Payscale to search the degree of each royal family member and discover the average annual salary of each. WellBox then manually cross-referenced these salaries with data from Prospects to discover the potential job roles that each royal family member could pursue with their degree.
   
   
5. The estimated net worth of each royal family member was taken from reputable sources, such as Wealth-X, Business Insider, Forbes, and Time—as reported by Marie Claire. A percentage difference was then calculated between the net worth of each royal family member and their potential average salary.
   
   
6. The results were then filtered and ranked to deduce the potential earnings of each royal as well as a percentage difference between their net worth and this figure.
   
   
7. All data was collected in March 2022 and is subject to change.

#ff9900; vertical-align: middle; line-height: 42px; cursor: pointer; display: inline-block; text-align: left;">Credit: Well Box Online