Gerald Cavendish Grosvenor, the Duke of Westminster, died on Tuesday evening at the Royal Preston Hospital in Lancashire aged 64.
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In January 2012, Hugh hit the headlines due to his extravagant 21st birthday bash – which featured an array of A-listers and cost a reported £5m. “We’re extrememly sad to hear of the passing of the Duke of Westminster”, it tweeted.
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 in the UK.
Among properties across the United Kingdom, he possessed 190 acres in Belgravia, a place near Buckingham Palace, and one of the most expensive districts of London.
His family has always been close to the royal family, with the late Duke close to the Queen and the Prince of Wales.
The estates were described as a substantial holding between Park Lane and Tyburn Brook, and Ebury farm, east of Chelsea.
The 64-year-old, who was Britain’s wealthiest landowner passed away at the Royal Preston Hospital in Lancashire, England on Tuesday (09Aug16).
Along with his title, the duke inherits the family’s country seat, Eaton Hall in Cheshire.
Grosvenor studied countryside management at Newcastle University. He particularly close to Prince Charles and a trustee of Princess Diana. The dress code was “black tie and neon”.
How old is Hugh and how much is now he worth?
“The party was simply wonderful – a birthday and a party I will never forget”. “It is the beginning of a new era in my life and I look forward to the challenges that lie ahead”.
He had four kids including his only son, Hugh Grosvenor, 25, who’s also Prince George’s youngest godfather and heir to the dukedom.
When once asked for his advice to would-be entrepreneurs seeking to amass a fortune similar to his own, the Duke of Westminster answered: “Make sure they have an ancestor who was a very close friend of William the Conqueror”. “Their thoughts are very much with his family this morning”.
It is only as a result of Britain’s ancient laws of primogeniture, first introduced by the Normans following the invasion of 1066, that Hugh has inherited his father’s title.
Michael and Julia Samuel arrive with Hugh Grosvenor (L-R) for the christening of Prince George at St James’s Palace in London October 23, 2013. He had inherited the title in 1979 but the family’s roots in real estate date back almost 1,000 years, to 1086, when William the Conqueror gave lands around Chester to Hugh Lupus, le Gros Veneur or master hunter.
The Normans introduced the common law to the United Kingdom in 1066, and it puts male children ahead of female children, irrespective of age. The royal family expresses its sympathy.
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He was never expected to accede to the peerage as his grandfather was the sixth son of the 1st Duke of Westminster, Hugh Grosvenor.
