But his father, Robert Grosvenor, unexpectedly became Duke in 1967 after the death of his brother and cousin, making him heir to a hugh fortune.
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The Duke’s ancestral home Eaton Hall just a few miles from Deeside is part of the Grosvenor Estate and includes the Cheshire villages of Aldford, Eccleston, Saighton as well as parts of the city centre and Handbridge.
By inheriting the bulk of his father’s fortune, estimated at £8.3 billion ($14.03 billion) by Forbes, the new Duke becomes the third richest person in the United Kingdom and the 68th wealthiest in the world.
In July 2014 Hugh was named as one of Prince George’s godparents.
His second eldest sister, Lady Edwina, 34, is married to television presenter Dan Snow, the son of Peter Snow.
Prince Charles talks with the late Duke of Westminster in Aldford, England.
A former student of countryside management at Newcastle University, he keeps out of the limelight but is known for having thrown a spectacular 21st birthday party for 800 guests at Eaton Hall, which was reported to have cost £5 million. The Mirror says that most of the attendees were estate staff.
Prince Harry, Prince William and the Duchess of Cambridge are all regular visitors to Grosvenor properties, and earlier this month William and Kate used the Duke’s private jet to fly to France for their summer holiday.
A private man, he was forced to abandon his dream of a career as a professional soldier when he was 22 and became trustee of the Grosvenor Estate.
“Given the choice, I would rather not have been born wealthy, but I never think of giving it up”, the 6th duke told The Independent in 1992. “I can’t sell. It doesn’t belong to me”, he once said.
Gerald Cavendish Grosvenor, aged 64, died at Preston Royal Infirmary on Tuesday, August 9.
A spokesman for the family said: “It is with the greatest sadness that we can confirm that the Duke of Westminster, Gerald Cavendish Grosvenor died this afternoon at Royal Preston Hospital”. No cause was given. He headed a portolio which has managed some of London’s most exclusive properties since 1677, including Mayfair and Belgravia.
He started working at the Grosvenor Group – a property business – in 2014 and worked in every office around the world, including the San Francisco and Hong Kong bureaus. He and his family had a fortune of $12.3 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
As a result of his father’s professed dislike of his time at Harrow, the young earl attended the local state primary school with his three sisters.
He will inherit huge chunks of prime London real estate.
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He has been described nationally as a “billionaire landowner”, with family holdings locally and nationally with several hundred acres of central London owned.
