The top 300 British millionaires and how they made - or lost - a fortune

PHILIP GREEN is the Monaco based financier who once said 'I wouldn't see my wife dead in high street fashion,' after his failed attempt to take over Marks & Spencer.

But he has become the latest member of the Billionaire Club after making a staggering £910 million this year from his acquisition of another retail stalwart, Bhs.

He enters the Top 20 of The Mail on Sunday's annual Rich Report, published today, with a fortune of £1.07 billion. Green leaps from 195th place last year to 16th in our rankings and is just one place behind the Queen, who is worth £1.15 billion.

But even the Queen's fortune is eclipsed by Hans Rausing, 75, who for the third year running is the richest man in Britain. He earns at least £1 million every day on the £6.3 billion fortune he built from the family's milk carton company.

For others, it has not been such a good year. In all, our top ten have lost more than £4.6 billion this year.

And Sir Richard Branson's fortune has plummeted by a staggering £1.3 billion after his two key companies - Virgin Atlantic and Virgin Mobile - were affected by stock market turmoil and the terrorist attacks of September 11.

The Rich Report provides a fascinating insight into the changing fortunes of the country. Technology tycoons have seen the worst fall. But a chill wind has also spread across the mobile phone industry and the rest of the markets.

Lakshmi Mittal, the controversial steel tycoon embroiled in the cash for favours row, has had £200 million wiped off his fortune.

As the dotcom and technology era recedes, the Rich Report has for the first time established the true value of a very traditional type of wealth - art treasures.

In total, the Duke of Devonshire, the Duke of Northumberland, the Marquess of Bute and the Marquess of Tavistock own art worth £2.2 billion, with a dazzling array of works by Leonardo da Vinci, Rembrandt, Van Dyck, Canaletto and Holbein adorning their ancestral seats.

The Duke of Devonshire's Chatsworth collection - the envy even of Prince Charles - is worth £1.3 billion, catapulting the Duke for the first time into the Top Ten.

In showbusiness, Sir Paul McCartney remains well ahead of fellow entertainers with £655 million. He continues to coin it in from the Beatles' extensive back catalogue which earned £65 million last year. Meanwhile Olivia Harrison enters our report at No. 255 as the main beneficiary of George Harrison's estate and £122 million fortune.

Indeed, more women are starting to make their mark. The highest self-made woman is JK Rowling, the first author to ever make the Rich Report. She is at No 131 with a fortune of £220 million.

But Catherine Zeta Jones is on our list for rather more old-fashioned reasons. For while she is a millionaire in her own right, it is her marriage to Michael Douglas that has placed her at No 192 in our list, with £165 million.

And of the 24 women in the top 300, only five - Rowling, Madonna, bus company founder Ann Gloag, Teletubbies creator Anne Wood and cough sweet maker Doreen Lofthouse - have made it through their own efforts.

Garry Weston, chairman of Associated British Foods and head of the Weston family, died eight days ago aged 74, after the Rich Report had already gone to press.

By Gaynor Pengelly. Additional reporting Simon Watkins