Kirsty Bertarelli is Worth More Than J.K. Rowling and the Queen of England Combined

Kirsty Bertarelli

So who exactly is the richest woman in Great Britain? Would it be esteemed author of the famous Harry Potter series J.K. Rowling? No, guess again. Okay, what about the Queen of England? Surely she must be the richest woman in Britain, right? Nope, wrong again. Actually the richest woman in Great Britain is Kirsty Bertarelli, and her net worth is actually larger that J.K. Rowling’s and the Queen of England’s combined. So who is she, and where did she get all of this money from?

Kirsty Bertarelli was born on June 30th, 1971 in Staffordshire. He family was considerably wealthy as her father owned one of the largest ceramic companies in the entire world, Churchill China. She had a relatively average upbringing, at least average in terms of growing up wealthy, and then strived to become a model when she was a teenager. She successful made it into the world of modeling, and quickly became one of the hottest models at the time. In 1988 she was crowed Miss United Kingdom which would earn her a spot to compete in the Miss World pageant. There she would earn 2nd place as the best model in the world, not to bad for a teenager.

After her work as a model, Kirsty moved to London in an attempt to pursue her true passion: music. She would work as a songwriter behind the scenes, writing material for various artists, musicians, and bands. She saw her big break in 2000 when she co-wrote a song for All Saints titled “Black Coffee”, who were one of the hottest pop acts in Britain at the time. The song would top the United Kingdom billboard charts and then went on to become an international sensation where it would spend 20 weeks in the top charts. That year was also good because she married her boyfriend at the time, Ernesto Bertarelli. Who’s he, you ask? Well, only one of the richest men in Switzerland. He was in-charge of his family biotech firm, Serono, and he would eventually sell the company in 2007 to Merck for around $13.3 billion dollars. This is where Kirsty attained the vast majority of her massive net worth. The couple would go on to have three children together, but Kirsty wasn’t satisfied with just being a mom. She wanted to be a supermom.

While she originally started out as as songwriter, she wanted to expand her music career into a full-fledge performer and artist. She began working and writing songs, and would eventually be signed to Universal Music Group. Kirsty would go on to release a full-length album in 2009 and it was well received. After her album debuted, she would go on to perform at a variety of different concerts and events. She even performed with Mitch Hucknail and put on a concert for the Prince and Princess of Monaco.

Following her various tours, Kirsty would leave Universal to sign a long-term exclusivity deal with Sony/ATV Music. Kirsty would go on to then release two more albums, both of which were also very successful. Typically it’s more difficult for older women to make it in the pop music industry, but Kirsty proved that you can do it at any age.

So who is Kirsty Bertarelli? Only a model, billionaire, pop singer, songwriter, and mother. That’s a lot of different things to balance all at once, however Kirsty makes it happen. Kirsty has lead an exciting and interesting life over the years, and she shows no signs of slowing down. Even though she was born affluent and married into wealth, she still managed to become a pop singer and professional musician on her own. Did she have some help along the way? Sure, but then again don’t most people?

Photo by Chris Jackson/Getty Images

Written by Sebastian Hensiek

From Philadelphia, Sebastian is a fan of music, writing, art, and entertainment.