Is Rishi Sunak’s Wife Richer than the Queen?

The wife of Rishi Sunak, Akshata Murthy is reportedly wealthier than the Queen, attracting a lot of attention.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer has constantly been in the headlines due to him attempting to manage the economy throughout the Coronavirus pandemic.

Sunak replaced the previous Chancellor of the Exchequer, Sajid Javid in February 2020.

It has now been reported that his wife is wealthier than the Queen.

Akshata and Sunak had tied the knot in a two-day ceremony in 2009, in Bangalore.

The couple had reportedly met while studying at Stanford University, California, where Rishi had won a Fulbright scholarship.

Sunak had previously been studying Philosophy, Politics and Economics at Oxford.

Meanwhile, Tatler Magazine had described Akshata as “an artistic and fashion-loving student with a deep passion for India’s traditional craftsmanship”.

However, she is much more than that, Akshata is the daughter of Indian entrepreneur Narayana Murthy.

Murthy is the co-founder of the multinational tech giant Infosys, whose market capitalisation values $46.52 billion (£34 billion).

Akshata allegedly owns a 0.91% stake in her father’s company, which equals £430 million.

It is also said that her family have a joint venture with Amazon worth £900 million a year as well as shares in the burger chain Wendy’s in India.

The assets make Indian-born Akshata richer than the Queen, who is estimated to be worth £350 million.

Sunak is the son of a GP father and pharmacist mother who emigrated to Southampton from East Africa in the 1960s.

Whereas, his father-in-law is the richest man in India and ranks at 1135 in the world’s billionaire list, according to Forbes.

As a result, Sunak was better known in India than in Britain before becoming the Chancellor in February 2020.

The latest revelation comes after Sunak faced demands to reveal details of his financial interests in November 2020.

It had emerged that Sunak had set up a ‘blind trust’ when he was made Chief Secretary to the Treasury in July 2019.

But critics said there was still a risk of conflict as Sunak, who is reputed to be the richest MP, is aware of what he put into the trust.

The blind trust also means that Rishi Sunak doesn’t have to disclose full details of his investment portfolio.

The revelations came forth with other documents that revealed Sunak had not taken his salary for five months when he joined the Treasury in 2019.