Gerald Grosvenor, 6th Duke of Westminster

Major General His Grace
The Duke of Westminster
KG CB CVO OBE TD CD DL
Photographed by Allan Warren in 1997
Personal details
Born 22 December 1951
Omagh, Northern Ireland
Spouse(s) Natalia née Phillips
Children Lady Tamara Grosvenor
Lady Edwina Grosvenor
Hugh, Earl Grosvenor
Lady Viola Grosvenor
Parents Robert Grosvenor (deceased)
Viola née Lyttelton (deceased)
Residence Eaton Hall, Cheshire
Known for Territorial Army officer
Property development & land owning
Richest Briton
Civilian awards Commander of the Royal Victorian Order
Titles 8th Marquess of Westminster
9th Earl Grosvenor
9th Viscount Belgrave
9th Baron Grosvenor
Military service
Allegiance  United Kingdom
Service/branch  British Army
Years of service 1973–2012
Rank Major General
Unit North Irish Horse
Commands Assistant Chief of the Defence Staff (Reserves and Cadets) (2004–07)
Deputy Commander Land Forces (Reserves) (2011–12)
Military awards Companion of the Order of the Bath

Major General Gerald Cavendish Grosvenor, 6th Duke of Westminster KG CB CVO OBE TD CD DL (born 22 December 1951) is a British landowner, peer, businessman, and former Territorial Army officer in the British Army. He is the son of Robert George Grosvenor, 5th Duke of Westminster, and The Hon. Viola Maud Lyttelton. He is the owner of property company Grosvenor Group.

According to the "Sunday Times Rich List 2014," the Duke of Westminster is worth £8.5 billion, placing him tenth in the list and making him the third richest British citizen after British-Indians David and Simon Reuben, and richest member of the peerage, with a net worth significantly greater than that of Queen Elizabeth.[1]

He was educated at Harrow School and the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. In 2005, he was elected Chancellor of the University of Chester.

Via Grosvenor Estates, the Duke is the richest property developer in the United Kingdom and one of the country's largest landowners, with vast estates in Oxford, Cheshire and Scotland, as well as large areas of Mayfair and Belgravia in central London, and also elsewhere in Europe.

Military career

After leaving Harrow with two O-levels,[2] then Earl Grosvenor, he joined the Territorial Army in 1970 as a trooper.

In 1973 he entered Sandhurst, and after passing out as an officer cadet, was commissioned a second lieutenant in the Territorial and Army Volunteer Reserve of the Royal Armoured Corps (Queen's Own Yeomanry) on 13 May 1973.[3][4] He was promoted to lieutenant on 13 May 1975 and to captain on 1 July 1980.[5][6] He was subsequently promoted to the acting rank of major on 1 January 1985 and to the substantive rank on 22 December.[7]

Promoted to lieutenant-colonel on 1 April 1992, he subsequently commanded the North Irish Horse, the Cheshire Yeomanry Squadron, founded by his ancestors, and the Queen's Own Yeomanry.[8] He was promoted to colonel on 31 December 1994 and was appointed the Honorary Colonel of the 7th Regt. Army Air Corps (1 January 1996) and the Northumbrian Universities Officer Training Corps (30 November 1995).[9][10][11] Promoted to brigadier on 17 January 2000, he was appointed the honorary Colonel of the Royal Mercian and Lancastrian Yeomanry on 14 May 2001.[12][13] He was also appointed Colonel in Chief of the Canadian Royal Westminster Regiment, the North Irish Horse and as Colonel Commandant Yeomanry.

The Duke was Grand Prior of the Priory of England of the Military and Hospitaller Order of St. Lazarus of Jerusalem, 1995–2001.[14]

In 2004 the Duke was appointed to the new post of Assistant Chief of the Defence Staff (Reserves and Cadets), with promotion to the rank of Major-General.

In March 2007, having served in the Ministry of Defence as Assistant CDS for four years, he handed over responsibility for 50,000 Reservists and 138,000 Cadets to Major-General Simon Lalor, in the wake of the Eliot Spitzer prostitution scandal in which he was implicated.[15] The Duke became Deputy Commander Land Forces (Reserves) in May 2011.[16] He retired in 2012.

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 (RUSI), and a member of the International Advisory Board of the RUSI.

He was appointed Commander of the Royal Victorian Order (CVO) in the 2012 Birthday Honours for his service as a member of the Council of the Duchy of Cornwall.[17]

Personal life

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

The Duke of Westminster 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 African ancestor Ibrahim Hannibal as well as of King George II, making her distantly in line to the British throne. Their children are:

Titles and styles

The Duke behind his desk in 1988

Orders and decorations

Decorations
Medals
Foreign dynastic orders
Appointments

Honorary military appointments

Ancestry

Arms

Arms of Gerald Grosvenor, 6th Duke of Westminster
Notes
The title Duke of Westminster was created by Queen Victoria in 1874.
Coronet
A Coronet of a Duke
Crest
A Talbot statant Or
Escutcheon
Quarterly: 1st and 4th, Azure a Portcullis with chains pendant Or on a Chief of the last between two united Roses of York and Lancaster a Pale charged with the Arms of King Edward the Confessor (City of Westminster); 2nd and 3rd, Azure a Garb Or (Grosvenor)
Supporters
On either side a Talbot reguardant Or collared Azure
Motto
Virtus Non Stemma (Virtue not ancestry)

See also

References

  1. ↑ Sunday Times Rich List 2013
  2. ↑ http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/features/desert-island-discs/castaway/5d408ecd#p0093pds
  3. ↑ "The London Gazette, 25 June 1973". London-gazette.co.uk. 1973-06-25. Retrieved 2014-05-23.
  4. ↑ "The London Gazette, 2 December 1974". London-gazette.co.uk. 1974-12-02. Retrieved 2014-05-23.
  5. ↑ "The London Gazette, 30 June 1975". London-gazette.co.uk. 1975-06-30. Retrieved 2014-05-23.
  6. ↑ "The London Gazette, 13 October 1980". London-gazette.co.uk. 1980-10-13. Retrieved 2014-05-23.
  7. ↑ "The London Gazette, 14 April 1986". London-gazette.co.uk. 1986-04-14. Retrieved 2014-05-23.
  8. ↑ "The London Gazette, 1 April 1992". London-gazette.co.uk. 1992-04-06. Retrieved 2014-05-23.
  9. ↑ "The London Gazette, 5 May 1995". London-gazette.co.uk. 1995-05-05. Retrieved 2014-05-23.
  10. ↑ "The London Gazette, 19 February 1996". London-gazette.co.uk. 1996-02-19. Retrieved 2014-05-23.
  11. ↑ "The London Gazette, 15 January 1996". London-gazette.co.uk. 1996-01-15. Retrieved 2014-05-23.
  12. ↑ "The London Gazette, 8 August 2000". London-gazette.co.uk. 2000-08-08. Retrieved 2014-05-23.
  13. ↑ "The London Gazette, 19 June 2001". London-gazette.co.uk. 2001-06-19. Retrieved 2014-05-23.
  14. ↑ http://www.st-lazarus.org.uk/order-of-saint-lazarus/Commanderies/14/-Mersey/25/History/33/
  15. ↑ Assistant Chief of the Defence Staff steps down, Daily Mail, Retrieved 2012-03-31.
  16. ↑ "Defence Viewpoints". Retrieved 16 April 2012.
  17. ↑ The London Gazette: (Supplement) no. 60173. p. 3. 16 June 2012.
  18. ↑ Louis Hugh Lupus van Cutsem, Peerage News, Retrieved 2012-06-14.
  19. ↑ Levy, Geoffrey (15 February 2003). "Diana's godchildren". London: Daily Mail.
  20. ↑ Saad, Nardine (23 October 2013). "Prince George christened; William and Kate name seven godparents". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 23 October 2013.

External links


Military offices
New title Assistant Chief of the Defence Staff (Reserves and Cadets)
2004–2007 		Succeeded by
Simon Lalor
New title Deputy Commander Land Forces (Reserves)
2011–2012 		Succeeded by
Ranald Munro
Academic offices
New title Chancellor of the University of Chester
2005–present 		Incumbent
Peerage of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
Robert Grosvenor		 Duke of Westminster
1979–present 		Incumbent
Heir apparent:
Hugh Grosvenor
Orders of precedence in the United Kingdom
Preceded by
The Duke of Abercorn		 Gentlemen
His Grace The Duke of Westminster 		Succeeded by
The Duke of Fife