Henkel's grandfather, Fritz Henkel, founded Henkel, a cleaning products company, in 1876. His Father, Konrad Henkel, took over the company and turned it into a global corporation. Christoph Henkel was born in February 1958
Henkel inherited a £1 billion stake in the German chemical company Henkel shortly after his father's death in 1999.
He received an honorary doctorate from the University of Düsseldorf in 2007.
In April 2015, the Sunday Times estimated his net worth at £1.07 billion.