Sir Philip and his wife lose £433m ( just £2.8bn left!)

FACED with a barrage of criticism over BHS’s collapse, it hasn’t been the easiest of times for Sir Philip and Lady Green.

And to compound the couple’s woes, their wealth is said to have plunged by £433million over the past year.

But before you start to feel too sorry for them, they still remain in fifth place on the latest Sunday Times Rich List for husbands and wives – with a combined fortune of £2.787billion.

Ernesto and Kirsty Bertarelli top the list of the UK’s richest married couples, with their wealth put at £11.5billion.

Those behind the rankings said the couple’s fortune is largely derived from the sale of Serono, the family biotech business, and the soaring share value in another pharma firm, Santhera.

Charlene de Carvalho-Heineken, the daughter of late Heineken boss Freddy Heineken, and her husband Michel de Carvalho were identified as the second wealthiest couple in the UK with a fortune put at £9.3billion.

Together the ten richest husbands and wives in the UK have seen their fortune increase by £3.4billion in the past 12 months to reach a combined total of

‘Pillow talk about balance sheets’

£39.9billion. The Greens were the only couple on the list whose wealth was said to have decreased over the last year.

Arcadia boss Sir Philip agreed to pay £363million to settle the BHS pension scheme in February. The department store chain plunged into administration just over a year ago.

This year’s Sunday Times Rich List – which will be released on May 7 – charts the fortunes of the 1,000 richest individuals and families in the country.

Robert Watts, compiler of the 2017 list, said the research revealed the changing make-up of Britain’s richest people – ‘with a record number of women and more husband and wife partnerships than ever before’.

He said: ‘Starting a business with your other half may not appeal to everyone. A bit of pillow talk about balance sheets wouldn’t suit all marriages, but there are clearly some couples who are making it work – and very well.

‘The growing number of women we’re seeing is part of a greater diversity, with more people from ethnic backgrounds and more surprising walks of life, with soft toy makers and dating app developers lining up with private equity barons.’