Inside the most glamorous society wedding of the year
Evening Standard|June 07, 2024
The Duke of Westminster is Britain's richest man under 40 and his fiancée is an enigma - from A-list guests to royal rifts and a vintage Bentley, Alice Cockerell reports on today's high-society nuptials
Alice Cockerell
Inside the most glamorous society wedding of the year

NEXT time you walk down a London street, look around. Every time you see a handsome green sign attached to a building it means that you are stomping on the turf of the Duke of Westminster. Set to marry his long-term girlfriend Olivia Henson, 30, today in Chester, his won't just be the society wedding of the year, but for many years to come too.

Not only is Hugh Grosvenor, 33, the richest man in Britain under 40, owning 300 acres of tip-top London with a cool £10.42 billion under his belt, he also holds the distinction of being godfather to the warring princes' children, William's George and Harry's Archie. It is set to be one hell of a party.

"The Grosvenors have traditionally been a pretty introverted bunch," says a local family friend. "But they do two things very well: shoot at things and throw parties. Oh and buy land I suppose." This is certainly true of Hugh.

Born Earl Grosvenor ("Hughie" to friends), he became the 7th Duke of Westminster in 2016 when his father, Gerald Cavendish Grosvenor, died.

However, apart from a "splendiferous" birthday bash in 2021, where Michael McIntyre was hired to crack jokes, the Rizzle Kicks to sing songs and was rumoured to have cost £5 million, the duke is remarkably low key.

Unlike the majority of his peers (of the realm at least), Hugh was educated as a day boy at local schools - Mostyn House School, Cheshire and Ellesmere College, Shropshire- until he went to Newcastle University to study Land Management.

Since then, apart from public appearances with his various charities and representing the UK at skeet shooting in the Olym pics, the demure duke has kept a very low profile. Until this weekend, that is.

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