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Rich List 2017
THE
COOL
YOUNG
DUKE OF
WESTMINSTER
The new Duke of Westminster — “Hughie” to his
friends — is head of the Grosvenor family, whose land
and property empire includes 300 acres of central
London , 165,000 acres of British countrysid e and
high-end property across Europe , Asia and the
Americas. Though the family seat is the 10,000-acre
Eaton Hall in Cheshire, which it has held since the
early 1440s , its wealth stems from a historic dowry. In
1 677 Sir Thomas Grosvenor married Mary Davies, a
12-year-old heiress, wh ose plot of swamp and orchards
to the west of London would one day become Mayfair
and Belgravia. The family portfolio makes Grosvenor
the richest aristocrat in Britain. He is also the best
connected, close to Prince Harry and godfather to
Prince George.
Nine months ago, Grosvenor became the youngest
duke of Westminster since the title was created more
than 250 years ago , after the death of his father,
Gerald, who suff ered a heart attack age d 64 while
walking in the family’s Abbeystead estate in
Lancashire. The aristocratic rule of primogeniture
meant that Hugh, rather than his sister Lady Tamara ,
who is 11 years his senior , inherited the title and
leadership of Britain’s wealthiest aristocratic dynasty.
Despite his wealth , friends say the duke is an
unfl ashy and down-to-earth person preoccupied by
the environment, charitable causes and sport. Since
leaving Newcastle University in 2013 he has
undertaken a two-year international graduate
programme covering all key areas of the Grosvenor
Estate, where he is now one of seven trustees, and
spent the past year work ing at Bio-bean, which turns
waste coff ee grounds into biofuel.
Bella Eckert , a fellow student at Newcastle who
edited The Tab , a campus news website , recalls:
“No one knew he went to the university. He wasn’t
a BNOC [big name on campus ] at all. He seemed
like a normal guy.” However, he wasn’t shy ofThe Sunday Times Magazine • 27TOO LATE, LADIES?
Considered to be the
world’s most eligible
bachelor, Hugh Grosvenor
is dating Harriet Tomlinson,
left, a friend he has known
since school at Ellesmere
College in Shropshire