- Follow our live coverage of the wedding
It has been billed as the most royal, non-royal wedding of the year.
Indeed, in different circ*mstances, the pews at Chester Cathedral would have been filled with senior members of the Royal family as the Duke of Westminster tied the knot with Olivia Henson.
The groom finds himself in the unusual position of being godfather to Prince Archie, five, as well as Prince George, 10, and is one of very few who has maintained links with both the Prince of Wales and the Duke of Sussex.
He and Prince Harry are understood to have spoken on the phone and agreed it best if he stays away from the wedding amid ongoing tensions with his brother.
Who is Hugh Grosvenor?
Hugh Grosvenor, the seventh Duke of Westminster, was once referred to as “Britain’s most eligible bachelor” thanks to his close links to the Royal family and his title as one of the country’s richest men.
But the 33-year-old Duke has officially been taken off the market after marrying Olivia Henson in Chester Cathedral.
It comes almost a decade after he inherited his title from his father Gerald in 2016, as well as the control of a fortune worth an estimated £10 billion that includes a sprawling global property empire, countless business investments and an enviable art portfolio.
The young Duke, who insists on colleagues calling him Hugh, is described by those who have worked with him as a “very authentic person” who is passionate and has a “genuine love of the land”.
In keeping with his country roots, the couple celebrated their nuptials with a reception at the beloved family estate in Cheshire, the sprawling 11,0000-acre Eaton Hall, where the Duke also oversees his award-winning farm.
Chester, where the Duke grew up, remains very important to him and to Ms Henson and it is where the couple plan to “lay down the foundations of their future” after the wedding.
The Duke’s is a future that encompasses being chairman of both the Grosvenor Trustees and the Westminster Foundation, the latter of which represents the charitable interests of the family and Grosvenor businesses.
The property portfolio inherited from his father, who died of a heart attack aged 64, includes more than 1,500 properties in 60 countries, the crown jewel being more than 300 acres of Mayfair and Belgravia.
Upbringing
The Duke’s upbringing does not necessarily speak to the wealth that surrounds his title, as he did not go down the traditional Eton and Oxbridge path like many of his contemporaries.
One relative previously told The Telegraph: “Hugh is a stable pair of hands.
“His mum, Tally [Natalia, a descendant of George II], was keen on the children having a more normal upbringing, so almost consciously didn’t want them to go to all those Eton, Harrow sort of places and risk turning into that arrogant, entitled type of person.”
Instead, he was locally educated at Eccleston Primary School, a state school near Chester, before attending Ellesmere College and later studying countryside management at Newcastle University.
He then began a career working for one of the family’s subsidiary investment groups, specialising in food and agriculture.
Charitable nature
Those close to the Duke say his real interests are philanthropic and environmental, which is why the Westminster Foundation, helping to support young people in London, Lancashire and Cheshire, is so important to him.
His father once said of Hugh: “He’s been born with the longest silver spoon anyone can have, but he can’t go through life sucking on it. He has to put back what he has been given.”
The Duke seems to have taken the words to heart, exercising his charitable nature through various different outlets.
In 2020, at the height of the pandemic, he donated £12.5 million for Covid relief and another £1 million to the University of Oxford for mental health research.
He is president of the Country Trust, a national charity supporting disadvantaged youths’ access to farming and nature, and has led a major fundraising campaign for the Defence and National Rehabilitation Centre, which supports the rehabilitation of seriously wounded or injured members of the Armed Forces.
One of his focuses is on helping vulnerable children and young people to access opportunities that will help them thrive in life, and he works closely with Storyhouse in Chester to do so.
Kate Mylchreest, the development director of Storyhouse, told The Telegraph: “I think he’s got a real passion for making a difference to young people.
“He’s always been quite clear that he knows there isn’t one thing that can be done and that it’s about having lots of different organisations that can support and provide opportunities for young people to live the best and most fulfilling lives they can.
Friend of the Prince
In his private life, the Duke has represented Team GB at Olympic skeet shooting competitions and is understood to be continuing to pursue his ambitions as an elite sportsman.
His family’s portfolio includes a 23,500-acre Abbeystead shooting estate in Lancashire, as well as Reay Forest in Sutherland, Scotland, and a 37,000 acre estate outside Seville, in Spain, where Princes William and Harry have visited to hunt. When Hugh was born, the then-Prince Charles gave him three shotguns.
The Duke is close to the Royal family and is the godson of the King, as well as godfather himself to both Prince George and Prince Archie.
The Prince of Wales was an usher at the wedding of his close friend in Chester, but the Princess of Wales was not in attendance as she continued her cancer treatment.
His friends, the Duke and duch*ess of Sussex, were also not among the 400 guests, although he is the godfather of Prince Harry’s five-year-old son.
The Duke and Ms Henson opted for a “strictly no-gifts policy” for their guests and put sustainability at the heart of the ceremony, including in their choice of Flower and Press for the floral arrangements.
