Richest takes top spot 3rd year running: Forbes

11. Christy Walton and family, 57, $25.3 billion And so enter the over-achieving Walton family. Christy Walton, shareholder in the oligarchic Wal-mart chain, is the world's richest woman for the seventh year in a row and is also the richest member of her family. This is largely down to a punt her late husband made on First Solar. Her Wal-Mart holding is worth $20 billion.

Photo by Getty Images Mar 8, 2012