# Queen Elizabeth II owns 1/6 of the world! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 20, 2020, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/queen-elizabeth-ii-owns-1-6-of-the-world/928455 "2020-12-20T14:24:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mark\_Finn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/34f0e0/32.png) [@Mark\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mark_Finn)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2020, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/queen-elizabeth-ii-owns-1-6-of-the-world/928455/1 "2020-12-20T14:24:24Z")
Queen Elizabeth II is legal owner of 2.7 billion hectares (over 10 million sq. mi.) of land, or 1/6 of the world’s land surface - including 90% of Canada. The Catholic Church is number 2 on the list, with 71.6 million hectares. The list of the world’s 101 biggest landowners is dominated by Australians and Russians. Surprisingly - the top American is only number 43. John Malone owns a staggering 890,000 hectares of land in America. The tycoon, who is worth $6.7 billion, controls mammoth tracts of forested land in Maine, as well as ranches in Wyoming, New Mexico and Colorado.The Canadian Irving Family (ranked 27th) owns some 800,000 hectares in Canada and about 505,000 hectares of sustainably-harvested forest across the border in Maine, USA. In 2018, the Irvings planted their billionth tree in their continued efforts to be a sustainable business. Here’s the list: [The world's biggest private landowners, ranked | lovemoney.com](https://www.lovemoney.com/gallerylist/70168/the-worlds-101-biggest-private-landowners) ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2020, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/queen-elizabeth-ii-owns-1-6-of-the-world/928455/2 "2020-12-20T14:40:37Z")
> [@Mark\_Finn](#): > > Queen Elizabeth II is legal owner of 2.7 billion hectares (over 10 million sq. mi.) of land, or 1/6 of the world’s land surface - including 90% of Canada. The Catholic Church is number 2 on the list, with 71.6 million hectares. Her Majesty absolutely does not “own” ninety percent of Canada or most of the rest of that land. The CROWN may legally own a lot of land, but you are conflating two very different things. If I drive to a local provincial park and walk around on it, that is, technically, Crown land, but Queen Elizabeth does not personally own it. She cannot sell it or rent it out. She cannot hire a contractor to build a summer house on it. She cannot forbid me from going to it. She cannot collect rent from it. The land belong to “The Crown” in the sense that it is land the government controls, but the monarchy long ago ceded that control to the governments of Canada and its provinces, who exercise all power over it as per Canada’s Constitution. If the Queen literally has no control or responsibility over something you can’t say she owns it. It is flat out false to call her a private landowner of all that land. It is in no way true. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2020, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/queen-elizabeth-ii-owns-1-6-of-the-world/928455/3 "2020-12-20T15:03:29Z")
Didn’t we deal with this canard a while ago? When I saw the title of the thread, I thought it was a zombie. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2020, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/queen-elizabeth-ii-owns-1-6-of-the-world/928455/4 "2020-12-20T16:55:43Z")
From the link: “However, the land cannot be sold by the Queen and is not considered her private property.“ Then what the hell is she doing on your list of of _private_ landowners? ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2020, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/queen-elizabeth-ii-owns-1-6-of-the-world/928455/5 "2020-12-20T17:24:40Z")
And the lead is just wrong: “the world’s largest non-governmental landowner” - the land is held in her public capacity as head of state of various nations. ---
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2020, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/queen-elizabeth-ii-owns-1-6-of-the-world/928455/6 "2020-12-20T17:39:13Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > From the link: > “However, the land cannot be sold by the Queen and is not considered her private property.“ > > Then what the hell is she doing on your list of of _private_ landowners? Note she does personally hold a lot of property (e.g. Sandringham and Balmoral) and over the years there has been some dodgy accounting where stuff was transferred between “the Crown” and the monarch’s personal property (or liability the other way). IIRC prior to Queen Victoria the monarch was not personally very wealthy, it took these dodgy dealings to change that (the Queen is personally one of the wealthiest people in the world, not just “the crown”) ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2020, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/queen-elizabeth-ii-owns-1-6-of-the-world/928455/7 "2020-12-20T21:07:21Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > Then what the hell is she doing on your list of of _private_ landowners? What list? Who makes this claim? The link in the OP goes to an article by a guy named John Misachi. Who’s that? ---
**Author:** ![LH75](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lh75/32/4438_2.png) [@LH75](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LH75)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2020, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/queen-elizabeth-ii-owns-1-6-of-the-world/928455/8 "2020-12-20T21:24:03Z")
In a related note: Ree Drummond, AKA The Pioneer Woman gives the impression that she is just a stay at home MOM who helps her husband run their humble cattle ranch. That ranch is 433,000 acres, or 677 square miles. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2020, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/queen-elizabeth-ii-owns-1-6-of-the-world/928455/9 "2020-12-20T23:19:29Z")
When I click the link it takes we to a list of the world’s 101 largest private landowners. It’s right there in the url. Number one at the bottom of the list is about the Queen and that’s what I quoted. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2020, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/queen-elizabeth-ii-owns-1-6-of-the-world/928455/10 "2020-12-20T23:26:23Z")
I understand that the Queen also cannot walk into the Royal Canadian Mint and claim that because it’s her name on the door, and also her picture is on the $20 bill, that she can claim whatever she wants of what they produce. Royalty is not what it used to be, sadly! ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2020, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/queen-elizabeth-ii-owns-1-6-of-the-world/928455/11 "2020-12-21T00:05:39Z")
Which as far as I know is just a clickbait list compliled by someone we don’t know from Adam. As mentioned already, stuff titled to “the Crown” is not private property of the woman Elizabeth. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2020, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/queen-elizabeth-ii-owns-1-6-of-the-world/928455/12 "2020-12-21T02:25:36Z")
Goddamn! I hope she has a good rake!