Hugh Grosvenor, 2nd Duke of Westminster, asked his lover Coco Chanel why she didn’t want to marry him: “There have already been several Duchesses of Westminster. There is only one Chanel,” legend has it that the designer responded, although years later she herself denied such vulgarity. The duke gave him a house in the wealthy London neighborhood of Mayfair. Her house was hers, the land continued to belong to the aristocrat.
Thus, almost a century later, the seventh Duke of Westminster, also called Hugh Grosvenor, has inherited a real estate estate of almost 13 billion dollars (11.7 billion euros) that includes more than 1.2 square kilometers of urban land in Mayfair, Belgravia and Pimlico – the jewel in the crown of the British metropolis – two stunning country houses, Eaton State and Abbeystead State, a shopping center in Stockholm, a residential tower in Tokyo or Throat, the largest private hunting estate in Europe, in the south of the province of Ciudad Real. 1,500 properties in 60 countries. A few days before his wedding, he has just transferred the office tower at number 8 on Titán Street, in the Madrid neighborhood of Méndez Álvaro, to the GMP SOCIMI, an operation that industry sources estimate at more than 40 million of euros.
The “most eligible bachelor in the United Kingdom”, as he has been called multiple times, is getting married this Friday, June 7, at the age of 33. His life is much less exotic and turbulent than that of his predecessor of the same name, but his pedigree, his connections and his fortune have meant that the wedding ceremony with Olivia Henson, 31, has become the social event – the “more real non-royal wedding”, according to the newspaper The Times— from a year filled with bad news at Buckingham Palace. The Duke of Westminster is godson of King Charles III and godfather to Prince William’s son George and Prince Henry’s first-born Archie.
Very reluctant to public exposure and to appear in the press, the duke has carried out a Florentine exercise of diplomacy to prevent the ceremony, in the Gothic cathedral of Chester, in the north of England, from becoming the new battlefield of the king’s two sons. Prince Henry, with whom his friend spoke earlier, has decided to excuse his presence. William of England will in exchange perform the function of usher (something like a companion), and will receive the illustrious guests at the door. In this way they save themselves the hassle of forcing the Prince of Wales to take his brother Henry to the back benches, where he would have sat according to protocol.
The bride, who works as an accountant for the Belazu company, specialized in the import of eco-sustainable products, has managed to maintain complete discretion regarding her private life in recent years. There is hardly any trace of her on social media and she shares with the duke an obsession with maintaining her privacy.
Fortune and fiscal prowess
The Duke of Westminster, fourth child and only son, inherited the title and fortune from his father in 2016, when Gerald Cavendish Grosvenor died unexpectedly of a heart attack at the age of 64. Several members of the British royal family attended the religious service held in his memory, including the then heir to the throne, Charles of England, and his wife, Camilla Parker-Bowles, and Prince William with Kate Middleton. The duke’s mother, Natalia Grosvenor, was William’s godmother, and is a direct descendant of the Romanovs. The trace of her lineage leads to the Russian poet Alexander Pushkin.
“Hughie”, as his friends know him, immediately took charge of the management of Grosvenor Group, the firm that accumulates all the family properties. However, it was another Hugh—Chanel’s lover—who turned all that assets into a set of trusts (something similar to the Spanish trust), to avoid paying an inheritance tax that would have significantly reduced family wealth. Compared to the 40% that any citizen must pay when he inherits more than 325,000 pounds (380,000 euros, or approximately $415,000), the seventh Duke of Westminster only has to pay 6% of the estate every 10 years. The company, which employs around 500 people, pays around 70 million euros annually in other taxes.
Apart from presiding over the corporation, and the charitable institutions that have been established under the aegis of the Duchy of Westminster, Hughie has demonstrated great skill in clay pigeon shooting for years – like the second Duke of Westminster – and is part of the Olympic team. from United Kingdom.
Invitations and ice cream
Since the date and location of the wedding were announced, tabloids and specialized magazines have begun to speculate about the names of a list that will include 400 guests. Neither King Charles III nor his daughter-in-law Kate Middleton, still undergoing treatment to combat the cancer they both suffer from, will be in Chester. Prince Henry has been ruled out. But all the places remain to be guessed, and invitations to the event have become the most coveted object among the British upper class.
Residents of the British town have already been asked not to take out their vehicles this Friday and opt for public transport. Some streets in the center have been closed since last Friday. About 4,000 curious people are expected around the cathedral.
The Duke of Westminster has covered the costs of three local establishments so that they distribute free ice cream throughout the day to all citizens who decide to visit Chester on Friday. Nearly 10,000 flowers have been distributed everywhere to decorate the villa.
Apart from the photo in which the couple announced their engagement, in April 2003 – without any big fuss or display of a ring – there are few occasions in which they have been seen. The last ones, precisely, for Chester, to promote some of the charitable foundations to which the duchy allocates almost eight million euros annually. All very far from glamor which was briefly transmitted to the town and its racecourse, the oldest in the world, by a universal Frenchwoman named Chanel for whom the title of duchess was too small.
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