Gerald Cavendish Grosvenor became the sixth Duke of Westminster in 1979, inheriting the title from his father.
Advertisement
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”.
The son of the victim, Hugh Grosvenor, now finds itself propelled to the head of a real estate empire in the middle of London with land in Mayfair and Belgravia, two of the most exclusive areas of the capital.
The new Duke of Westminster is one of the world’s most eligible bachelors.
Grosvenor has also developed commercial schemes, such as Liverpool One shopping centre, which, when completed in 2008, was the largest regeneration project in Liverpool for decades, as well as a number of schemes in Edinburgh, Southampton and Oxford. Today, the family’s assets have grown to include prime London commercial property, rural estates in England, Scotland, Wales and Spain and an global property development, investment and fund management business, Grosvenor Group.
The Duke of Westminster, Gerald Cavendish Grosvenor, who died Tuesday aged 64 at Royal Preston Hospital in Lancashire.
As a boy, he attended a local state primary school, a rarity for aristocracy who usually send their children to boarding school. The children later attended Ellesmere College in Shropshire, which charges fees up to £10,296 a term.
The Duke of Westminster with the Duchess of Westminster.
Hugh, who is now the 7th Duke of Westminster, is a former student at Newcastle University, who made headlines with a 21st birthday party that was rumoured to have cost £5 million at Eaton Hall. The dress code was “black tie and neon”.
How old is Hugh and how much is now he worth?
He told the Chronicle at the time: “The party was simply fantastic – 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’.
Hugh was the youngest and the wealthiest of Prince George’s godparents when he was carefully picked by the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge in 2013 for the role supporting the future king.
“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.
It added: “Their thoughts are very much with his family this morning”.
The Normans introduced the common law to the United Kingdom in 1066, and it puts male children ahead of female children, irrespective of age. His three sisters, Lady Tamara, Lady Edwina and Lady Viola, who maintains a semi-active, yet private Twitter presence, will have their lifestyles maintained via trust funds.
Advertisement
“The Grosvenor Estate is subject to a 1933 Act of Parliament, the Grosvenor Estate Act, which effectively restricts inheritance to the male line”, said Marilyn McKeever, a London-based lawyer at Berwin Leighton Paisner.
