Gerald Grosvenor, 6th Duke of Westminster

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For other persons named Gerald Grosvenor, see Gerald Grosvenor (disambiguation).
The Duke of Westminster in the robes of a Knight Companion of the Order of the Garter
The Duke of Westminster in the robes of a Knight Companion of the Order of the Garter

Major-General Gerald Cavendish Grosvenor, 6th Duke of Westminster, KG, OBE, TD, DL (born 22 December 1951 in Omagh, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland), is the son of Robert George Grosvenor, 5th Duke of Westminster, and his wife Hon. Viola Maud Lyttelton. In 2005, he became Chancellor of the University of Chester. He was educated at Harrow School and Sandhurst.

Contents

[edit] Business interests

Styles of
The Duke of Westminster
Reference style His Grace
Spoken style Your Grace
Alternative style Sir

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 Jewish-Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich. The Duke was 3rd in the Sunday Times Rich List 2008, behind Roman Abramovich and the Indian-born industrialist, Lakshmi Mittal, who currently holds first place. An estimated fortune of £7 billion ($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 U.S. 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 failed the entrance examination to the Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst.[1] The Duke joined the Territorial Army in 1970 as a trooper.

Later in 1973 the Duke attended Sandhurst and subsequently commanded the(The Cheshire Yeomanry) Squadron, founded by his ancestors, and the The Queen's Own Yeomanry. He was also appointed the Honorary Colonel of several Regiments, including the 7th Regt. Army Air Corps, the Royal Mercian and Lancastrian Yeomanry, the Queen's Own Yeomanry, Northumbria Universities Officer Training Corps, Colonel in Chief of the Canadian Royal Westminster Regiment and Colonel Commandant Yeomanry.

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'.[1]

In March 2007, having served in the Ministry of Defence for 4 years he handed over the responsibility of 50,000 Reservists and 138,000 Cadets to Maj Gen Simon Lalor. The Duke is now engaged in the Reserve Review in the same Rank.

[edit] Personal life

As a child the Duke lived on an Isalnd in the middle of Loch Erne. His early education was in Ulster and the went to Sunningdale School and then onto Harrow.

The Duke married 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.

[edit] Saint-Ouen flea market

The duke's company, Grosvenor Continental Europe, bought the up-market Serpette and Paul-Bert sections of the 120-year-old Saint-Ouen market, just north of the 18th arrondissement in Paris, in 2005.

Antiques dealers at the Saint-Ouen flea market, which attracts millions of visitors every year, launched an Asterix-style protest in October, 2007 at the duke's attempt's to impose "exorbitant" rent rises. Traders accused the duke of wanting to transform the traditional flea-market into a luxury market like the Louvre des Antiquaires, an expensive antiques arcade in central Paris. The combined rental value of the 420 pitches at the flea market amounts to almost €4 million.[2]

[edit] Controversy

See also: Emperors Club VIP and Eliot Spitzer prostitution scandal

On 11 February 2007, the Duke was exposed by the 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.[1]

The Duke was also alleged to have been a client of the United States-based Emperors Club VIP, a high class prostitution ring which led to the resignation of New York governor Eliot Spitzer. On 12 March 2008, the Daily Mail reported that the Duke was a patron of the escort agency as "Client No. 6" at the heart of Eliot Spitzer prostitution scandal.[3] His lawyers denied the allegations, claiming he was not in London on the dates in the report.[4][5]

[edit] Titles and honours

[edit] Honours

[edit] Honorary military appointments

[edit] See also


[edit] External links


Honorary titles
Preceded by
None		 Chancellor of the University of Chester
2005–present		 Succeeded by
(current incumbent)
Peerage of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
Robert Grosvenor		 Duke of Westminster
1979–present		 Succeeded by
(current incumbent)
Order of precedence in the United Kingdom
Preceded by
His Grace the Duke of Abercorn		 His Grace the Duke of Westminster
United Kingdom Order of Precedence
Gentlemen		 Succeeded by
His Grace the Duke of Fife


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British dukes*
* Current dukes, listed by precedence, from highest to lowest