Thread: Duke of Westminster dead at 64

In case you don't know of Gerald Cavendish Grosvenor , he was an extremely wealthy man- owning a large swathe of Belgravia, and substantial chunks of Mayfair and other parts of Westminster. Oh, and substantial assets elsewhere- Spain, Australia, loadsa places. Land, mainly- that's been the family business for centuries.

Ever wondered why there is a Grosvenor Place/ Square or something or other in so many major conurbations? The wealth estimates for the family are almost certainly radically understated.

While unexpected, the death has not come completely out of the blue.
“He was a depressive and had been unwell for many years,” a source tells The Daily Beast.

Meet Hugh Grosvenor, 25, Now Britain?s Richest Man After Ducal Death - The Daily Beast

An interesting man, who actually stated that he wished he hadn't been born rich, and said that inheriting a Dukedom meant nothing except "it helps you get a seat at crowded restaurants". Many of his sympathies, it seems, were with the lower orders (he funded a battle against the Westminster council, and won, over their plans to sell a werkin' class estate in Pimlico). He was a great lover of the British Army.




https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/...1971.jpg?w=751


My Obituary- he seems to have been a fairly normal man who happened to become the Duke of Westminster (at 27 or so) . He never forgot that. RIP, Gerald.

Meet the new boss:-

I bet his 25 year old heir is gutted with his 9 BILLION quid windfall

He is godfather to a future king, and now owns a large chunk of the most exclusive parts of London. At just 25, Hugh Richard Louis Grosvenor, who has become the 7th Duke of Westminster after the sudden death of his 64-year-old father on Tuesday, will inherit a family fortune estimated by American business magazine Forbes at about £9bn, and the ancestral seat Eaton Hall in Cheshire.

Though the third of four siblings, the duke, previously known by the honorary title Earl Grosvenor, is the only son of the late Duke of Westminster and his wife, Natalia.

Little is publicly known of the former student of countryside management at Newcastle University. His family guarded his privacy as he was growing up as heir apparent to the vast fortune, which now makes him the third wealthiest landowner in the UK, and, according to Forbes, the 68th wealthiest person in the world.
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/...nherit-fortune



... Described as “baby-faced” and “absurdly rich” by Vanity Fair magazine, the young earl made an appearance on the Tatler List, with the description: “Hughie’s a Newcastle graduate with his own wine collection who goes wild for the girls”, adding that after inheriting his father’s estate he would “own half of London”.

Unlike many of his social contemporaries, the new duke was not educated at boarding school, but attended a state primary before going to a private day school close to home in Cheshire.

He is two years younger than his father was when he took on the fortune aged 27, and currently works as an account manager for Bio-bean, a green technology company that recycles waste coffee grounds into advanced biofuels and biochemicals.
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/...nherit-fortune

Maybe it is because of multiple generations of wealth, or the stable business they are in- land (I'm not sure if it was Gerald or Hughie who said "that's the business we know"), or maybe being comfortably aristocratic. But these people seem quite grounded, compared to zany billionaires like Donald Trump.

Not much is known about the 7th Duke of Westminster, really- but at primary level, he went to a local state school, which is quite interesting. And he wasn't much interested in academics- but excelled at sports.

Fuk him and his sprogs.

What does he look like in that Beret?

Wonder how much inheritance tax his estate will be paying. Zero or pretty close to it is my guess.

Yup- they sure ain't stupid. Take it from an ex-private banker, IHT is basically either voluntary these days anyway, or a result of lack of planning.

the original buy to let landlord filth.
They 'sell' the houses with 99 year leases or whatever
so a couple of generations down the line the next duke of westminster can resell them
they don't bother counting the houses they own in london, they just say how many acres they cover

fuck them

That 99 year lease malarkey is a scam that half of London accepts as the norm.

Can't take it with ya.

Originally Posted by crackerjack101

Fuk him and his sprogs.

Promoting a romance with these blood sucking cunts is destructive for a culture [and others like it] that already exist fanciful....

Fuck 'em all.

Sad, reading his biography, this man sounded like a decent person who had more going for him than just being wealthy. RIP


"In 2011, having already funded a feasibility study, the Duke purchased the estate at Stanford Hall, Nottinghamshire to make possible the creation of a Defence and National Rehabilitation Centre (DNRC) to provide the highest quality support for military casualties.[2] It is intended that the new facilities which are under construction for completion in 2018 will replace those at Headley Court.[3] [4] The Duke remained actively involved in the project until his death.[5]"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerald...of_Westminster

Originally Posted by Chittychangchang

That 99 year lease malarkey is a scam that half of London accepts as the norm.

A bit better than the 30 year one on offer here!

An interesting man, who actually stated that he wished he hadn't been born rich

What proportion of those who inherit wealth voice equally vapid, idiotic sentiments? What proportion do anything to make one believe them?

and said that inheriting a Dukedom meant nothing except "it helps you get a seat at crowded restaurants".

Possibly slightly at odds with

he was an extremely wealthy man- owning a large swathe of Belgravia, and substantial chunks of Mayfair and other parts of Westminster. Oh, and substantial assets elsewhere- Spain, Australia, loadsa places

The poor will always envy the wealthy.

Originally Posted by buriramboy

Wonder how much inheritance tax his estate will be paying. Zero or pretty close to it is my guess.

As ever, the ineffably reliable BumBumboy displays even more bollocks as he scales the heights of his own stupidity and ignorance. The estate is a trust, why would they pay tax?

Originally Posted by TheDukeofNewcastle

The poor will always envy the wealthy.

Originally Posted by Seekingasylum

Err, except those poor who who are still alive, aged 65.

durr....duke...

Originally Posted by TheDukeofNewcastle

The poor will always envy the wealthy.

....especially the variety that have never come by their grotesque wealth honestly.