Gerald Grosvenor, 6th Duke of Westminster

From Chester Wiki

Major-General Gerald Cavendish Grosvenor, 6th Duke of Westminster, Order of the Garter (KG), Order of the British Empire (OBE), Territorial Decoration, Deputy Lieutenant (born 22 December 1951 in Omagh, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland), is the son of Robert Grosvenor, 5th Duke of Westminster and his wife the Hon. Viola Maud Lyttelton.

In 2005, he became Chancellor of the University of Chester.

[edit] Business Interests

The richest aristocrat in the United Kingdom, the Duke topped the Sunday Times Rich List as Britain's wealthiest individual for many years and was surpassed only in 2004 by Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich. The Duke was 3rd in the Sunday Times Rich List 2007, behind Roman Abramovich and the Indian-born industrialist, Lakshmi Mittal, who currently holds first place. An estimated fortune of £7 billion (US$14 billion) is derived largely from property in central London, where he owns approximately 300 acres (1.2 km²) of the most exclusive commercial and residential property in Mayfair and Belgravia (including the land on which the US Embassy stands, in Grosvenor Square), as well as estates in Lancashire, Cheshire (Eaton Hall) and Scotland. In addition to managing its traditional holdings, the Duke's property company, the Grosvenor Group, is an active property developer with interests around the world. It is the main developer of The Paradise Project in Liverpool. The Duke is also president of a number of charities including The Institution of Environmental Sciences.

[edit] Military Career

After leaving Harrow School with a single O-level, the Duke tried but failed the entrance examination to the Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst. Not to be put off, the Duke joined the Territorial Army in 1970 as an ordinary Trooper. After long service and becoming an officer, including commanding 'C' squadron (The Cheshire Yeomanry) and his regiment, The Queen's Own Yeomanry, he became Honorary Colonel-in-Chief of several regiments, including The Royal Mercian and Lancastrian Yeomanry, 7th Regt. Army Air Corps, and the Canadian Royal Westminster Regiment and Colonel Commandant Yeomanry, Royal Armoured Corps. In 2004, he was appointed to the new post of Assistant Chief of Defence Staff (Reserves and Cadets) with promotion to the rank of Major General. He was the first reservist holding such rank since the 1930s, but it was said that he 'privately never kidded himself that he would have achieved such seniority but for his wealth and social status'.

In 2007, following statements in the "News of the World" that he was a "serial user of prostitutes" to whom he (supposedly) had boasted about military and security matters , he was replaced in the Assistant Chief of Defence Staff post by Maj Gen Simon Lalor.

[edit] Personal life

The Duke married Natalia Grosvenor, Duchess of Westminster (nee Natalia Ayesha Phillips), the daughter of Lt.-Col. Harold Pedro Joseph Phillips and his wife Georgina Wernher, in 1978. The Duchess is a direct descendant of the Russian poet Alexander S. Pushkin, and therefore of his ancestor Ibrahim Hannibal. The Duchess' older sister is Alexandra Hamilton, Duchess of Abercorn, wife of James Hamilton, 5th Duke of Abercorn. The Duchess is also a descendant of Princess Augusta Charlotte of Wales and as a result their four children are in the line of succession to the British throne:

• Lady Tamara Katherine Grosvenor (b. 20 December 1979), married Edward Bernard Charles van Cutsem (6 November 2004)
• Lady Edwina Louise Grosvenor (b. 3 November 1981)
• Hugh Richard Louis Grosvenor, Earl Grosvenor (b. 29 January 1991), the Duke's heir apparent.
• Lady Viola Georgina Grosvenor (b. 12 October 12 1992)

[edit] Controversy

On 11 February 2007, the Duke was exposed by the UK tabloid News of the World for hiring four prostitutes in six weeks to visit him at his mews house in the West End of London. During one of the encounters he allegedly bragged that he knew the whereabouts of Osama Bin Laden. source

[edit] Titles & Honours

[edit] Honours

• Knight Companion of the Order of the Garter (2003)
• Officer of the Order of the British Empire (1995)
• Military and Hospitaler Order of St. Lazarus of Jerusalem (Knight Grand Cross) and (Grand Prior) of England
• Territorial Decoration (1994)
• Deputy Lieutenant (Cheshire) (1982)

[edit] Honorary military appointments

• Colonel-in-Chief of the Royal Mercian and Lancastrian Yeomanry
• Colonel-in-Chief of the Army Air Corps 7th Regt.
• Colonel-in-Chief of the Canadian Royal Westminster Regiment
• Colonel Commandant Yeomanry, of the Royal Armoured Corps

[edit] External links

• Sunday Times Rich List 2006
• Forbes.com: Forbes World's Richest People
• Institution of Environmental Sciences
• Profile in Liverpool's 'Nerve' magazine

[edit] Source

Wikipedia