It's easy to think of literally any story of a "commoner" marrying a royal as a Cinderella story, but Kate Middleton (opens in new tab) was definitely not living that Cinderella lifestyle before she met her Prince Charming. As the Duchess of Cambridge (opens in new tab), Kate has a piece of the royal family (opens in new tab)'s massive fortune (the family's overall value is estimated at $88 billion, according to Forbes (opens in new tab)), but here's a fun fact: Turns out Kate was rich AF before she married Prince William (opens in new tab).
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Ready for the number? Kate's personal net worth (as in outside of the royal family) is at least £5 million and could be as high as £7.3 million, according to Time (opens in new tab) (via global wealth-tracking firm Wealth-X (opens in new tab)). In American dollars, that's a $7 to $10 million dollar fortune.
Kate owes her massive personal bank account to her family, who own a very profitable online party supply business called Party Pieces (opens in new tab), which is estimated to be worth £30 million (about $50 million). Of course, the Middleton family biz has definitely benefitted from Kate's association with the royals, which started about a decade before (opens in new tab) she officially married Will in 2011.
Kate worked at Party Pieces (opens in new tab) (as well as a buyer for a British retailer called Jigsaw) between graduating from college and settling down with Will. These days, Will and Kate (opens in new tab) live in Kensington Palace in London, but back in her bachelorette phase, Kate wasn't living in a hovel with roommates and subsisting on ramen and hope like many recent grads. Nope, she was living in a luxe apartment in Chelsea in London that is believed to be worth £1 million, or $1.4 million (opens in new tab). Her parents reportedly (opens in new tab) bought the pad.
William, on the other hand, is worth much more. He and Harry inherited Princess Diana's substantial fortune and are each worth somewhere in the neighborhood of $25 to $40 million, according to Business Insider.
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