PICTURE CREDIT TO GO HERERich List 2017
T
he backstreets of Borough were quiet at
6.30pm on a cool Thursday evening in
March. No one noticed the small gang of
anarchists as they rounded on the south
London offi ces of Bio-bean , a coff ee-
recycling start-up. “We’re here to see
Hugh,” barked Ian Bone , a veteran
agitator and publisher of the Class War
newspaper , as his group walked into the offi ce.
They wanted a showdown with one of the fi rm’s
most junior staff ers — a pale young man with
strawberry-blond hair and freckle-fl ecked cheeks.
Unfortunately for them it wasn’t to be : the 26-year-
old had already left for the evening. Not to waste the
opportunity, one unfurled a banner inviting him to
“Surrender your palaces”. As the group was escorted
out, Bone waved his cane and shouted: “Why doesn’t
the boy give us some of his cash?”
Hugh Grosvenor will always attract strong feelings,
the sort no ordinary young man would relish — but
then he is no ordinary man. He is Britain’s youngest
billionaire and the ninth-richest person in Britain of
any age, with a fortune we put at £9 .52 bn today.9 £ 9.52bn £ 170 m ▲
THE DUKE OF WESTMINSTER
Property26 • thesundaytimes.co.uk/richlistHugh Grosvenor, the 7th
Duke of Westminster, is
Britain’s youngest billionaire.
Thrust to the fore by his
father’s death nine months
ago, the 26-year-old has
never sought the limelight,
but the fl urry of media
interest sparked by news
that the £9bn bachelor
has a steady girlfriend is
a taste of things to come.
Gabriel Pogrund reports on
a low-profi le duke with
high-profi le responsibilities
REX