Heineken heirs are UK's richest couple

A former child actor and his heiress wife have emerged as the richest couple in Britain. Charlene de Carvalho, who this year inherited a 25 per cent stake in the Heineken brewing empire, and her husband Michel are worth nearly £3bn, according to a survey of the wealthiest people in Britain.

Mrs de Carvalho, a 47-year-old housewife and mother-of-five, earned her large fortune by having the good fortune of being the only daughter of Alfred "Freddy" Heineken, the billionaire chairman of the world famous brewery.

She inherited the family's majority stake in the company when her father, who lived in the Netherlands, died on 3 January. The Carvalhos' wealth is estimated at £2.9bn.

Mr and Mrs de Carvalho, who live in central London, have gone straight into the rich list at number four, the highest ever new entry. They now stand shoulder to shoulder with established Rich List regulars such as the Duke of Westminster, Lord Sainsbury, and Bernie Ecclestone.

Mr de Carvalho, a successful banker, may not be bringing quite as much money to the relationship – he earned a rumoured £7m last year as vice chairman of Schroder Salomon Smith Barney merchant bank - but at the age of 55, his has been a colourful life.

He started out as a child actor, reaching a career pinnacle when he appeared in Lawrence of Arabia, David Lean's Oscar-winning epic, starring Peter O'Toole. Mr Carvalho, under his acting name Michel Ray, played the Arab boy Farraj who befriends Lawrence. He also appeared in The Tin Star, with Henry Fonda, for which he won Film Daily's Critics Award.

He gave up acting at the age of 17, a decision he claimed to regret later because he passed up the chance to earn a lot of money.

"I decided it wasn't what I wanted to do but I didn't know then what happens to people in the movie business and just how well they get paid," he once said, "Stopping at 17 was just about the most stupid decision I have made."

His acting career behind him, Michel Carvalho went on to ski for Britain in the 1968 Winter Olympics in Grenoble before switching sports, competing in the luge – a kind of toboggan – in the Olympics of 1972 and 1976. He later went on to Harvard Business School.

Mrs Carvalho has always kept a low profile. Her father became a recluse after he was kidnapped and held for three weeks in 1983; the brewery firm paid a £7.2m ransom. Freddy Heineken, a marketing genius, built up the brewery, turning the Dutch company from small beer into the world's second largest brewer.

Mrs Carvalho's mother – Lucille Cummins, herself the daughter of a Kentucky bourbon distiller – survives her husband, who died aged 78, but the family fortune passed to her daughter.

The Duke of Westminster remains at number one in the Sunday Times Rich List. His estimated worth is now £4.9bn – £500m up on last year – his fortune based on extensive property holdings in central London and elsewhere in the UK and Ireland.

Still at number two is Hans Rausing, a Swede who ran Tetra Pak, the packaging company and now lives in East Sussex. Next wealthiest is Lord Sainsbury, the Government minister and supermarket tycoon. At number five, one place below the Carvalhos, is Bernie Ecclestone and his wife Slavica. Mr Ecclestone – last year's number three – earned his billions through his control of Formula One motor racing.