The tanker king finished ahead of the queen, a prince, 29 lords, 11 dukes and nine earls in the 25 anniversary of the list which places his wealth at £8.80bn ($13.39bn).

The Sunday Times says Frontline 2012 has already been worth $100m for Fredriksen, with $400m in dividends from Seadrill also boosting the shipowner’s coffers.

This helped to push Chelsea resident Fredriksen’s wealth up by £2.20bn over the past year. It also takes him past the Duke of Westminster (who finished second only to the queen in the first list in 1989) in this year’s standings.

The monarch now sits a long way down in 268 place with £320m on a table headed by Alisher Usmanov, the mining magnate with £13.30bn to his name.

Other shipping flavour is provided at the top end by Essar’s Ravi Ruia. His 24 spot was secured thanks to his £2.55bn bank balance, which is £550m fatter than at this stage a year ago.

Ruia is ahead of Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestone and one-time shipowners the Barclay brothers, who boast £2.50bn and £2.35bn respectively.

Suits you, Sirs

Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou, another who used to own ships, jetted into the top 50 with £1.70bn to his name.

His 43 place is two clear of the Swire family, headed by Sir John Swire, with £1.62bn to brag about.

Peter Smedvig is also better off this year as his wealth lifted by £122m to tip the scales at £1.007bn and leave him in 82 spot.

Smedvig, who swapped ships for rigs, is just behind commodity heavyweight Richard Elman in the standings.

Stefan Olsson, whose father founded Stena, is today a long way behind Fredriksen with £702m.

Still, given it’s more than double what he had a year ago and places him in the same company as Nat Rothschild and Sir Paul McCartney he will not be too disappointed.

Morten Hoegh, in 140 position, is also mixing with the aristocracy. His £640m is more than the Duke of Bedford and Andrew Lloyd Webber.

Helene and Marianne Odfjell are £29m down on what they shared a year ago – in 150 place with £590m. This has them level with Lord Sainsbury and a single position behind Michael Lemos.

They are, however, clear of Harry Potter author JK Rowling who has £560m.

Sir Michael Bibby, the British owner, is a little up on last year with £238m to his name.

This is more than David Beckham and just a couple of million less than Elton John.