Gerald Grosvenor, 6th Duke of Westminster

Gerald Grosvenor
Duke of Westminster
The Duke of Westminster in the robes of a Knight Companion of the Order of the Garter
Duke of Westminster
Reign	19 February 1979 - present
Predecessor	Robert Grosvenor
Heir-Apparent	Hugh Grosvenor
Spouse	Natalia Ayesha Phillips
Issue
Lady Tamara Katherine Grosvenor Lady Edwina Louise Grosvenor Lord Hugh Richard Louis Grosvenor Lady Viola Georgina Grosvenor
Father	Robert Grosvenor
Mother	Viola Maud Lyttelton
Born	22 December 1951 (1951-12-22) (age 57) Omagh, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland

Major-General Gerald Cavendish Grosvenor, 6th Duke of Westminster, KG, CB, 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. According to the Sunday Times Rich List 2009, The Duke of Westminster is worth £6.5 billion placing him 3rd in the list behind Roman Abramovich and Lakshmi Mittal.

Grosvenor is the richest property developer in Britain and one of Britain's largest landowners, owning vast estates in Lancashire, Cheshire and Scotland as well as great swathes of Mayfair and Belgravia in central London. Internationally the Duke also owns vast estates in Canada and Spain.

Military career

After leaving Harrow School with a single O-level, Grosvenor failed the entrance examination to the Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst. The Duke joined the Territorial Army in 1970 as a trooper.

Later in 1973 Grosvenor attended Sandhurst and subsequently commanded the North Irish Horse, 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, the North Irish Horse 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.

In March 2007, having served in the Ministry of Defence for four years he handed over the responsibility of 50,000 Reservists and 138,000 Cadets to Major General Simon Lalor. Grosvenor is now engaged in the Reserve Review in the same Rank. He was appointed Companion of the Order of the Bath (CB) for his military service in the 2008 Birthday Honours. He is also an Honorary Vice President of the Royal United Services Institute.

Personal life

As a child Grosvenor lived on an island in the middle of Lough Erne. His early education was in Northern Ireland before attending Sunningdale School and Harrow School.

Grosvenor married Natalia Ayesha Phillips, the daughter of Lt.-Col. Harold Pedro Joseph Phillips and his wife Georgina Wernher, in 1978. His wife is a direct descendant of the Russian poet Alexander S. Pushkin, and therefore of his ancestor Ibrahim Hannibal.

• Lady Tamara Katherine Grosvenor (b. 20 December 1979) married Edward Bernard Charles van Cutsem (6 November 2004)
• They have a son Jake (b. 21 May 2009)
• 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 1992)

Saint-Ouen flea market

Grosvenor'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 his attempts 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.^[1]

Titles and honours

Honours

• Companion of the Order of the Bath (Military Division) (2008)
• Knight Companion of the Order of the Garter (2003)
• Officer of the Order of the British Empire (Military Division)(1995)
• Military and Hospitaller Order of St. Lazarus of Jerusalem (Knight Grand Cross) and (Grand Prior) of England
• Territorial Decoration (1994)
• Deputy Lieutenant (Cheshire) (1982)
• Knight of the Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of St John in Jerusalem (1991)

Honorary military appointments

• Honorary Colonel The Queen's Own Yeomanry
• Honorary Colonel 7th Regt. Army Air Corps
• Honorary Colonel-in-Chief Royal Westminster Regiment, New Westminster, BC, Canada
• Honorary Colonel Yeomanry, Royal Armoured Corps
• Honorary Colonel Northumbria Universities Officer Training Corps

See also

• List of billionaires

References

External links

• Sunday Times Rich List 2009
• Forbes.com: Forbes World's Richest People
• Institution of Environmental Sciences
• Profile in Liverpool's 'Nerve' magazine
• 6th Duke of Westminster
• http://publish.indymedia.org/en/2008/04/905423.shtml
• http://publish.indymedia.org/en/2007/12/897755.shtml