The late Duke of Westminster and Prince William’s father, the Prince of Wales had a friendship spanning decades, and Hugh’s sister, Lady Edwina, is Princess Diana’s god-daughter.
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Cavendish took suddenly ill Tuesday and was airlifted to the Royal Preston Hospital in Lancashire where he later died.
Hugh Richard Louis Grosvenor, formerly known by the honorary title Earl Grosvenor, works as an account supervisor for Bio-legume, a technology business that is green. Nearly 1,000 years later the Duke of Westminster was asked by the Financial Times for any advice he would offer to…
The Grosvenor Estate gained much of its wealth from the marriage of Mary Davies to Sir Thomas Grosvenor in 1677.
At the heart of the family fortune is a property portfolio which includes 300 acres in two of London’s most expensive neighbourhoods, Mayfair and Belgravia.
In 2001 he made a £500,000 donation to farmers during the foot-and-mouth outbreak, and he fought a legal case against Westminster City Council in 1990, centred on a number of social housing flats built on the family’s land in Pimlico, London.
The Daily Beast explains that, “According to Forbes, the duke had a fortune of £8.3 billion, making him the 68th-richest person in the world, and the third-richest person in the U.K. However, he has frequently been cited as the richest person in the U.K., depending on property values of the day”.
Gerald Grosvenor was not meant to inherit his title, but his uncle died without heirs therefore causing his father to inherit the title, which was then passed on to him.
“Given the choice, I would rather not have been born wealthy, but I never think of giving it up”, he told The Independent newspaper in 1992. “If I’m lucky I might live on this earth for 70 years”. That estate has been with us for three, four, five, six hundred years.
“His untimely death at the age of just 64 will of course be felt most keenly by his family, and I send them my deepest condolences, but he will also be mourned in Fermanagh, where he will always be remembered with great affection”.
The duke’s aristocratic clan is closely tied to British royalty.
In 2013, Prince William and Catherine named him a godfather to their son Prince George (the duke’s mother is a godmother to Prince William) and Hugh’s oldest sister, Lady Tamara, is married to one of Prince William’s best friends, Edward van Cutsem.
Kensington Palace said: “The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge were very sad to learn of the Duke of Westminster’s passing”.
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“What I find so interesting about the UAE in particular is how they’ve risen to the challenge of becoming very worldwide in their outlook and the way they’re doing business”, the duke said at the time.
