Hugh Richard Arthur Grosvenor, 2nd Duke of Westminster GCVO DSO (familiarly "Bendor") (19 March 1879 – 19 July 1953) was the son of Victor Alexander Grosvenor, Earl Grosvenor and Lady Sibell Mary Lumley, the daughter of the 9th Earl of Scarborough.[1] He was a grandson of Hugh Grosvenor, 1st Duke of Westminster. He was a cousin of King George V. [2]
Like many of his social class whose lives were ones of privilege and leisure, The Duke occupied himself in the pursuit of pleasure. He was described as “a pure Victorian who had eyes for his shotgun, his hunters, his dogs—while English women, of his day, had only to give birth to children and please their masters…a man who enjoyed hiding diamonds under the pillow of his mistresses…a man who could brutalize women…” [3]
His ancestral country estate in Cheshire, the fifty-four bedroom Eaton Hall, consisted of eleven thousand acres of parkland, gardens and stables. The main residence had its walls hung with master works, paintings by Goya, Rubens, Raphael, Rembrandt, Hals, and Veláquez. An avid participant in the hunting life, The Duke owned lodges reserved for the sport in Scotland and France. For sea excursions, he had his choice of two sailing vessels, “The Cutty Sark,” and a yacht, “Flying Cloud.” For ground transportation he had seventeen Rolls Royce automobiles, and a private train built to facilitate travel from Eaton Hall directly into London where his city home Grosvenor House was located. Grosvenor House was later leased to The United States for use as the American Embassy. [4]
After succeeding his grandfather as Duke of Westminster in 1899, he served in the Second Boer War with the Imperial Yeomanry until 1901, as an ADC to Lord Roberts and Lord Milner. He subsequently invested in land in South Africa and Rhodesia.
In 1908, the Duke competed in the London Olympics as a motorboat racer for Great Britain.
On 1 April 1908, he was named honorary lieutenant-colonel of the 16th Battalion, The London Regiment, a post he held until 1915. The Duke served with the Cheshire Yeomanry during World War I, developing a prototype Rolls-Royce Armoured Car for their use. During their 1916 campaign in Egypt, as part of the Western Frontier Force under General William Peyton, the Duke (then a major) commanded the armoured cars of the regiment and took part in the destruction of a Senussi force at the Battle of Agagia on 26 February 1916. On 14 March 1916, he led the armoured cars on a raid that destroyed the enemy camp at Bir Asiso. Learning that the crews of HMT Moorina and HMS Tara were being held at Bir Hakkim, he led the armoured cars on a 120-mile dash to rescue them before returning. He received the DSO for this exploit. He was subsequently promoted colonel and on 26 May 1917, he was named honorary colonel of the regiment.
In 1925, he was introduced to Gabrielle ("Coco") Chanel after a party in Monte Carlo and pursued her. He was as extravagant with her as he was with all of his lovers. One famous story is that he hid a huge uncut emerald at the bottom of a crate of vegetables for her, another is that he showed up at Chanel's apartment with an enormous bouquet of flowers and was only recognized after Chanel's assistant tried to hand "the delivery boy" a tip.It is also reputed that he had her distinctive logo placed on lamposts on the Grosvenor estate in Central London, a story which is denied by the Grosvenor estate today, whilst not offering any alternative explanation as to what the sign may mean. He was Chanel's lover until 1930.
In 1931, the Duke, a Conservative "outed" his brother-in-law, William Lygon, 7th Earl Beauchamp (1872–1938), as a homosexual to the King and Queen; he reportedly hoped to ruin the Liberal Party through Beauchamp. Homosexuality was a criminal offence at the time, and the King was horrified, saying "I thought men like that shot themselves."
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During the run-up to World War II, he supported various right-wing and anti-Semitic causes, including the Right Club. "His anti-Semitic rants were notorious." [5] Most of the twentieth century was plagued by the fear of global Communist domination. The moneyed elites, and those of The Duke’s aristocratic lineage particularly felt the threat. What caused this group the most anxiety was that Europe would be taken over by the Soviet Union—they perceived Communist domination, not Fascism was the enemy bent on destroying their lives of wealth and status. The Duke, known for his pro-German sympathies, was reportedly, instrumental in influencing his former mistress, Coco Chanel, to use her association with Winston Churchill to broker a bilateral peace agreement between the British and the Nazis. [6] It was in late 1943 or early 1944 that Chanel, and her then current lover, Nazi espionage agent, Baron Hans Gunther Von Dinklage, did undertake such an assignment. Code named “Operation Modellhut,” it was an attempt through the British Embassy in Madrid, via Chanel, to influence Churchill, and thereby persuade the British to negotiate a separate peace with Germany. This mission as planned ultimately met with failure. [7]
He married, firstly, Constance Edwina (Shelagh) Cornwallis-West (1876–1970), the sister of Daisy Princess von Pless and the youngest daughter of William Cornwallis-West, descended from John West, 2nd Earl de la Warr, on 16 February 1901 and they were divorced in 1919.[1] They had three children:[1]
The Duke married, secondly, Violet Mary Rowley, née Nelson (1891–1983), daughter of Sir William Nelson, 1st Baronet and former wife of George Rowley, on 26 November 1920 and they were divorced in 1926. Violet, Duchess of Westminster remarried thirdly 3 October 1927[9] Hon. Frederick Heyworth Cripps (later 3rd Baron Parmoor), by whom she had issue, the present 4th Baron Parmoor (b. 1929).[10]
Westminster married, thirdly, Hon. Loelia Mary Ponsonby (1902–1993), daughter of Frederick Ponsonby, 1st Baron Sysonby, on 20 February 1930. They were divorced in 1947 after several years of separation. Some years after his death, she remarried (as his 2nd wife) on 1 August 1969 the divorced Sir Martin Lindsay of Dowhill, 1st Bt.[11]
He married, fourthly, Anne (Nancy) Winifred Sullivan (1915–2003), on 7 February 1947. Anne, Duchess of Westminster outlived her husband by fifty years.[1] She was the owner of Arkle, the champion racehorse, who won the Cheltenham Gold Cup three times in the 1960s.
The Duke died in 1953, aged 74, leaving surviving issue two daughters. His titles and the entailed Westminster estate passed to his cousin, William Grosvenor, and thence to the two sons of his youngest half-uncle Lord Hugh Grosvenor (killed in action 1914). The title is now held by the 6th Duke, who was born in the 2nd Duke's lifetime.
| Honorary titles | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by The Earl Egerton of Tatton |
Lord Lieutenant of Cheshire 1905–1920 |
Succeeded by Sir William Bromley-Davenport |
| Peerage of the United Kingdom | ||
| Preceded by Hugh Grosvenor |
Duke of Westminster 1899–1953 |
Succeeded by William Grosvenor |
