The porn heiress with more money than the Queen: Party girl, 21, is the youngest to make this year's Rich List
- India Rose James shares her £329million fortune with her sister Fawn
- They are the biggest landlords in Soho thanks to their grandfather
- Steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal was toppled from top spot by Alisher Usmanov
By KEITH GLADDIS, TOM KELLY and ELEANOR HARDING PUBLISHED: 22:30 GMT, 21 April 2013 | UPDATED: 22:30 GMT, 21 April 2013
Extravagant: India Rose James at The Look Of Love premiere, the film about her grandfather Paul Raymond
She is the porn baron’s grand-daughter whose family wealth exceeds £300million. But although she is one of the luckiest 21-year-olds in the country, India Rose James is, it seems, keen to squander her fortune. The heiress, who was the youngest person to make yesterday’s Sunday Times Rich List, lives an indulgent and extravagant party lifestyle after benefiting from Paul Raymond’s will. Her £329million fortune, which she shares with her sister Fawn, makes them technically richer than the Queen.
The rich list also revealed that:
- A record 118 women, collectively worth £55.287billion, are now among the 1,000 richest people in Britain;
- Russian oligarchs are three of the five wealthiest, including the top two positions;
- Aristocrats are being squeezed out of the super-rich club by the new money from overseas, with the highest ranked member of the landed gentry, the Duke of Westminster, falling to his lowest position yet; and
- The best-off continue to defy the economic gloom, with the collective wealth of the most affluent 1,000 now hitting a record £450billion, up £35.4billion on last year.
Miss James is not afraid to showcase her wealth, whether it is nights out arm in arm with Playboy bunnies, watching a £10 note go up in flames or jet-setting around the world.
The self-styled part-time princess of Soho litters her Twitter page with pictures of her partying with tattooed model boyfriend Jake Hold and boasts about the time she has enjoyed in Los Angeles, Dubai, Paris and Rome. She talks about spending £180 on sweets and one photograph shows a £10 note being burned with the comment ‘just saw £10 go up in flames... I could have used that to go home’.
Porn Baron: India Rose's grandfather Paul Raymond at his revue bar in Soho with some exotic dancers
Money to burn: A picture of a ten pound note on fire, posted by India Rose James on her Twitter account
Another tweet states: ‘On Alex’s roof in Soho, looking down on the little people.’ And when your sister is a multi-millionaire too it means you have to compete with her to impress daddy when it’s his 60th birthday. Last month, India tweeted: ‘So I have 7 days to get my dad a better present then (sic) what my sister got him – she got him a Bentley.’ Raymond built up his fortune launching the country’s first topless dancing club and introducing top-shelf magazines to the UK. Along the way he acquired the freeholds on almost two-thirds of Soho’s properties, building up a seedy business empire estimated to be worth around £650million.
Top spot: Russian billionaire Alisher Usmanov, 59, and his wife
According to the Sunday Times Rich List 2013, when their grandfather died in 2008, Miss James and her sister Fawn, 27, inherited 80 per cent of his money and businesses. Now they share a £329million fortune, up £12million on last year, and are the biggest landlords in London’s entertainment centre. They are ranked at 265 in the list, making them richer than the Queen, who is in 268th position with £320million, up £10million on last year. They own 60 acres of prime real estate. Their father John is managing director of Soho Estates.
The sisters are the children of Debbie Raymond, whose death in 1992 from a drug and drink binge drove her father Paul to become a haunted recluse. Debbie, 36, had already taken over parts of the empire and was expected to carry on his legacy. It is thought that Paul Raymond’s son Howard, 53, had to settle for 20 per cent of his father’s fortune after they fell out when he started taking cocaine in his 20s.
Fawn is a director of Soho Estates and recently pledged to kick strippers out of a club above her grandfather’s Revuebar. She also runs some charitable activities. In contrast, India is fashion editor for obscure magazine Fault and an aspiring actress. But in February, she appeared to be growing tired of this, moaning: ‘I’m going to apply to a school, I’m bored in life.’ The Look of Love, a film documenting Paul Raymond’s life which stars Steve Coogan, is being released in UK cinemas on Friday.
Alisher Usmanov, a part-owner of Arsenal football club, is the most affluent person in the country with a £13.3billion fortune. The second richest is another Russian oligarch, Len Blavatnik, who is worth £11billion.
Former Miss UK Kirsty Bertarelli, whose family fortune stands at £7.4billion, is the wealthiest woman in the rich list. The Duke of Westminster’s property interests make him worth £7.8billion, placing him eighth in the list. Adele has been named the richest young musician in the country for a second year following the success of her song for the James Bond film Skyfall. The singer is worth £30million – up £10million on last year.
