Gerald Cavendish Grosvenor, 6th Duke of Westminster

Major-General Gerald Cavendish Grosvenor, 6th Duke of Westminster, KG, CB, CVO, OBE, TD, CD, DL  was a British landowner, businessman and Territorial Army general. He was the son of Robert George Grosvenor, 5th Duke of Westminster and The Hon. Viola Maud Lyttelton. He was Chairman of the property company Grosvenor Group.

He was educated at Harrow School and the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst.

In 2005, he became Chancellor of the University of Chester.

Via Grosvenor Estates, the Duke was 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, Liverpool City Centre, and elsewhere in Europe. According to the Sunday Times Rich List 2016, the Duke was worth £9.35 billion (c. US$13 billion), placing him sixth in the list and making him the third-richest British national.

However, he lost around US$1 billion due to the United Kingdom's decision to leave the European Union in June 2016.

The Grosvenor family's first development was in Mayfair, central London, in the early 18th century, the second big development came around 100 years later and was another exclusive part of London - Belgravia developed by the family after the end of Napoleonic Wars and the conversion of Buckingham Palace - which is just one mile east. After developing the two parts of central London, the family business expanded. During the second half of the 20th century, the business expanded into the Americas and developed Annacis Island and Vancouver in Canada in the 1950s. The family business started developing in Australia in the 1960s. They then moved to Asia in the early 1990s and continental Europe just before the millennium. In April 2000, the firm moved into new London officers and the business was headed by Gerald Cavendish Grosvenor, who was Chairman of the Trustees.

After leaving Harrow with two O-levels,[5] then Earl Grosvenor, he joined the Territorial Army in 1970 as a trooper.

**

After entering RMA Sandhurst in 1973, he passed out as an Officer Cadet and 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.

He was promoted to Lieutenant on 13 May 1975 and to Captain on 1 July 1980.

He was subsequently promoted to the acting rank of Major on 1 January 1985 and to the substantive rank on 22 December.

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.

He was promoted to colonel on 31 December 1994 and was appointed Honorary Colonel of the 7th Regt. Army Air Corps (1 January 1996) and the Northumbrian Universities Officer Training Corps (30 November 1995).

Promoted to Brigadier on 17 January 2000, he was also appointed Honorary Colonel of the Royal Mercian and Lancastrian Yeomanry on 14 May 2001.

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.

In 2004 the Duke was appointed to the new post of Assistant Chief of the Defence Staff (Reserves and Cadets), with promotion in 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 Grosvenor was also implicated. The Duke became Deputy Commander Land Forces (Reserves) in May 2011. 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 "service as a member of the Council of the Duchy of Cornwall"

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 Abram Gannibal as well as of King George II. Their children are:

• Lady Tamara Katherine Grosvenor (b. 20 December 1979), married Edward Bernard Charles van Cutsem (6 November 2004), with two sons, Jake Louis Hannibal van Cutsem (b. 2009) and Louis Hugh Lupus van Cutsem (b. 17 April 2012);
• Lady Edwina Louise Grosvenor (b. 4 November 1981), a goddaughter of Princess Diana, married Daniel Robert Snow (27 November 2010). The couple have a daughter, Zia (born 2011) and a son, Wolf Robert (born 2014).
• Hugh Grosvenor, 7th Duke of Westminster (b. 29 January 1991), who is one of Prince George of Cambridge's seven godparents;
• Lady Viola Georgina Grosvenor (b. 12 October 1992).

The Duke died on 9 August 2016 at Royal Preston Hospital in Preston, Lancashire after suddenly becoming ill at his Abbeystead estate the previous day.

***

Titles and styles

• 22 December 1951 – 25 February 1967: Gerald Grosvenor, Esq.
• 25 February 1967 – 19 February 1979: Earl Grosvenor
• 19 February 1979 – 9 August 2016: His Grace The Duke of Westminster

Honours Orders  

•  20 February 1979 Baronet, 15th baronet, of Eaton (cr. 1621)
•  1987 Commander of the Order of St John (CStJ) [26]
  •  1991 Knight of the Order of St John (KStJ)
•  1995 Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE)
•  2003 Knight of the Order of the Garter (KG)
•  2008 Companion of the Order of the Bath (CB)
•  2012 Commander of the Royal Victorian Order (CVO)

Decorations

•  1994 Territorial Decoration (TD)
• 2004 Canadian Forces Decoration (CD)

Medals

•  6 February 1977 Queen Elizabeth II Silver Jubilee Medal
•  6 February 2002 Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Medal
•  6 February 2012 Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal
• 29 May 2012 Volunteer Reserves Service Medal (VR)

Foreign dynastic orders

•  1995 Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Saint Lazarus, (House of Orléans)
•  2006 Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Order of Francis I, (House of Bourbon-Two Sicilies)

Appointments

• 20 July 1981 He received the Freedom of the City of London
• 1982 He was appointed a Deputy Lieutenant of Cheshire (DL)
• 27 September 2013 He was awarded an Honorary Degree from Harper Adams University.
• 1990 He received the Honorary Degree of Doctor of Laws from Keele University

Honorary military appointments

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