Hugh Grosvenor, the Duke of Westminster, is getting married this week, on the 7th. Prince William is reportedly the only royal who will attend the wedding, which has caused about six months’ worth of headlines. Hugh did invite the Sussexes but they declined (and Hugh hasn’t said a word against them), and Hugh also invited King Charles, but reportedly the king and queen are not going to the wedding either. The Princess of Wales is obviously skipping it too, given no one has heard from her in months. For months, there’s been all of this outsized focus on the royal guests, which must be so upsetting to Hugh, who genuinely seems to fly under the radar and not want any kind of attention. Thankfully, the Telegraph did sort of a lovely piece about Hugh and his bride Olivia Henson and their post-wedding plans. Keep in mind, Hugh is one of the richest men in the UK, with a vast real estate portfolio. Apparently, he’s planning to move to his country home and start a family.
The Duke of Westminster has plans to settle down into the farming life of a country gentleman after his wedding, according to friends. Next week Hugh Grosvenor, the seventh Duke, will wed duchess-to-be Olivia Henson in Chester Cathedral, Cheshire, with the Prince of Wales as an usher. Following the nuptials, Chester is where the couple “want to lay down the foundations of their future”, and where the Duke will nurture his love of “nature, sustainability and farming,” a source close to them has said.
Friends of the Duke, 33, have described him as having “a genuine love of the land” that is fitting for one of the UK’s largest landowners who studied countryside management at university. He is also president of the Country Trust, a charity that encourages children from disadvantaged backgrounds to connect with “the land that sustains us all” through visits to farms across the country, including the Duke’s Grosvenor Farms on his Eaton Estate in Cheshire.
Jill Attenborough, CEO of the Country Trust, said: “He’s really aware of his responsibility as the next generation of farmers and landowners and he gently, certainly not in a sort of pushy way, tries to draw in his network as well of ‘next gen’ to talk about whether they might also welcome children into their farms and estates and showcase what they’re doing for a more sustainable future.”
The Duke also currently has an ongoing project to create the largest continuous area of wildflowers in the country using local Cheshire wildflower seed and is passionate about timber production and developing his “cutting-edge” dairy farm. The site of the farm, the family’s sprawling 11,000-acre Eaton Estate, will also play an important role in hosting the 400 wedding guests after a service at Chester Cathedral next Friday. The guests, who have all been issued a strict no gifts instruction, will descend upon the picturesque county town for the main event followed by a more intimate gathering the next day for family and close friends.
Chester will be decorated with 100,000 flowers paid for by the Duke to mark the occasion, and they will be planted in displays across the cathedral city throughout the summer. The wedding flowers, it is understood, will be donated to local charities and organisations following the ceremony in keeping with a theme of sustainability and locally sourced food throughout.
The couple have recently embarked on a few public charitable visits to highlight their support of their future home town, with Miss Henson insisting on one of them that the couple want to “put down roots” in the north-west county town where they will be wed.
“It’s obviously a place where we will live,” she said. “We’ll be building our lives together and we’re slowly transitioning to move up from London and be much more permanent here and really putting roots down.” The bride-to-be added that it had been “an easy decision” for the couple to make. However, a friend of the couple has caveated that the parameters of his role as chair of the Grosvenor Group, which manages more than 300 acres of Mayfair and Belgravia, means that they will “still be in London regularly”.
I really hope photo agencies are allowed to get wedding photos and some pics of the decorations. It sounds like they’re doing a “village wedding” and then everyone will move to Eaton Estate for the reception, which we probably will not see at all. As for Hugh and Olivia’s plans to spend more time in the country… it reminds me of what they used to say about Prince William, circa 2014-2017. That was when William and Kate moved to Norfolk and William was acting like a “Turnip Toff” with no royal responsibilities. Hugh is actually living William’s dream life.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red & Richard Eden’s IG.
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- Prince Charles, The Prince of Wales, Royal Honorary Colonel The Queen's Own Yeomanry, attends a consecration service and presents a new Guidon to The Queen’s Own Yeomanry during a parade at Bramham Park, Bramham.,Image: 387915817, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Pictured: Hugh Grosvenor,Duke of Westminser, Credit line: John Rainford / Wenn / Avalon
Everything I know about the Duke of Westminster I have learned against my will. Wishing the best for the lovely couple despite Willy Wanker’s best efforts to hijack their day but I’m so excited for this story to be over.
I wish them well
I don’t know much about them, but from that one pic they look like siblings. So funny how people often marry people with similar features.
I don’t see the resemblance here, but it is true that we are apparently more attracted to faces familiar to us.
I agree that they look like siblings. Regardless, I wish them well.
I noticed that Tatler had some snotty comment about “not knowing much about the bride” which makes me think that he didn’t pick someone from the aristo set. And in terms of setting down roots in the country-if that was my “house” I certainly would do that too.
There was a DM article that likened the bride to be to Kate. I didn’t read the article but there was a mammoth headline basically saying that Hugh & Will followed the same path when choosing a bride. So yeah, I think she’s what the Brits would describe as “a commoner”.
fun fact- his Kate was a woman named Harriet who used to be his college gf. They were on and off for years. Tatler had a big story on them a few years ago. Except he now met and marrying Olivia in the last two years. Unlike William, he moved on.
Uh oh, I guess Tatler didn’t get access to wedding photos and coverage. I’m guessing one of the Vogues gets the exclusives. I’ll be interested to see the flowers, especially the ones planted in the town which sounds lovely, as well as her dress and the bridesmaid dresses. I really like how casually she is dressed in the engagement photo so her dress choices might be interesting. The star usher William can fall into a well for all I care.
Right? The British tabs are so desperate to make them the next Kate and William, but I’ll gladly admit that I want to see tiaras! and dresses! and flowers! and a carriage ride! But no articles about the posh Porta Potties a la Pippa, thanks…
IIRC Melissa Percy’s wedding was the last big aristo wedding event that got press coverage, so it’ll be interesting to see who’s there and what we get to see….
And although it ended in tears (with hookers splashed on the front page of the Daily Mail, LOL), that wedding photograph of Hugh’s mother and father is pure joy. You can tell they were so happy and in love!
Glad he is using his platform for good things. Unlike his royal usher who uses his platform to hate his brother and make others weddings all about himself.
Yes, it also looks like Hugh is living like Harry – not with the farming and vast wealth, but with autonomy and using their respective resources to do good. But, I don’t know that William’s “dream life” includes actually working.
Certainly sounds like Hugh and Harry will have more in common. Hugh looks like a decent guy.
I hope Will enjoys his — I mean Hugh’s— special day.
I’m ready to get this wedding and Trooping the Colours behind us, Harry and Meg will have something for us for sure!
There’s nothing to admire about wealth hoarders. For them to lecture others on sustainability is obscene. Tax the rich.
Yes ….. Fawning over this overprivileged nepobaby is disgusting. These people may be individually “nice” but the system behind them is extremely damaging to society and democracy.
The fact that so few people own so much of British land is wild to me. It very much keeps the class structure in place. Hugh seems nice and all but… eat the rich- specifically the aristocracy.
So true- this article makes him sound so philanthropic and down to earth. But is that really the case when he is hoarding that wealth?
That said, at least he is doing something positive with his resources, unlike some people who just talk about it and do nothing in one of the 4 (or is it 5?) residences.
He can afford to do the philanthropic work on the estate because all the property in London is making tons of money.
I know he’s a billionaire but I feel a bit sorry he and his bride were dragged into William’s drama, it’s their wedding day, the focus should be on them.
THIS. Like what is he doing exactly – besides charging folks to live on land he and his family have hoarded for generations?? What he is doing is the bare minimum of what someone with his wealth SHOULD be doing.
He has money and he gives a lot of it. I remember that he donated £10m to national COVID-19 relief effort thru his foundation.
@Julie, £10M is negligible to a man who has billions.
It’s wild to think about owning that much property. It’s just funny how the goal always seems to be that of a gentleman farmer. Isn’t that what James Middleton is also calling himself now?
Yep!
And honestly I think that William would change places with Hugh in a heartbeat. All that money without having to do real work or duty? I think Hugh seems very responsible but he gets to do what he wants and focus on what he wants. I’m sure the daily management is left to those who’ve been hired. I bet William is so jealous because this seems to be exactly what he’s been playing at ever since he took over the Duchy.
🎯
She has such strange body language in that top pic, like she’s thrusting her hips toward him but twisting her shoulders away from him.
Hah!
Just noticed her hair is also conflicted:
Some locks seem to be flowing towards him, others in the opposite direction
Agree, and she’s dressed very sloppily… this picture is being used everywhere, I’d have made a bit more effort for my engagement picture!
I saw photos of them on some walkabout and her pants were pretty wrinkled. Isn’t that the aristo look, though?
The same set of photos had a pic of her on a charity visit (I think?) and they caught her guffawing and she looked EXACTLY like Kate. I had to do a double take.
Not sure that’s a compliment to Ms. Henson.
There’s aristo “I have so much money I can’t be arsed to care about how I look” and “I’m landed gentry at best and I chose to look like a hobo to marry one of the richest men in the world.” I think she falls into the latter category, for me…
Excessive wealth. And yet, I do hope we get pictures of the flowers and the guests. Although how many stories will we get about William being the bestest usher ever?
They are getting married in a cathedral in a city known for attracting posh people. It is not by any stretch of the imagination a ‘village wedding’ – this is the fake sort of ‘I’m so country,me’ that W&K pulled in Anglesey (when Kate kept popping up in London clubs).
Seems to me they’re getting married where they want to be married – it’s Kaiser who called it a “village wedding.”
Fair enough – I assumed she was getting that from the coverage. Maybe it’s just a misunderstanding of what a cathedral wedding is (i.e huge, formal and not available to the masses).
You’re right about the cathedral – it’s a massive place, a church, but also a museum. It’s open to the public for worship and for visitors. But it definitely looks very very grand. Still, it doesn’t seem like he picked this location just to “look country” – he already has a lot of property in the area – if he’s going to settle there, he might as well be married there.
Honestly a lavish cathedral wedding is what I would expect of a mega wealthy Duke and his first (and hopefully only) wife. I wasn’t trying to criticise at all. I just misunderstood and thought *they* were the ones claiming a ‘simple village wedding’ when it’s obviously nothing of the sort.
It is the central town of his county. It’s his home county town so it’s part of his duty to marry there (or on the estate) and it’s also really good for the local businesses.
It can’t be a village wedding if they’re getting married at Chester Cathedral. Diary Farming is one of the biggest causes of pollution in the world and I’m wary of any charity programme that says its want to encourage disadvantaged children to connect to farming. Usually that means he wants to use his charity as a means of recruiting workers for his farm. The piece omitted the part were he tried to evict people from their houses in London so he could build luxury apartments. And it doesn’t seem like he will making donations to Chester charities in honour of his wedding.
They had to get something out there like this, so far their entire wedding has just been out-shined by Bill’s bad behavior
What if the British media tries to imply that Kate was at the wedding and getting “sources” swearing that they’ve definitely saw her there ? I could see them at least trying to pull that off.
I appreciate that they’re settling there, rather than somewhere in the Cotswolds, near Cirencester and the polo paddocks for eg.
All I know about his title and peerage is that one of his ancestors was a N*zi sympathizer who was having an affair with Coco Chanel. She was also a N*zi sympathizer. Whatever his wealth, i do not hold him any grudges, at least he is doing better Things than all the current billionaires.
That was Bendor, the 2nd Duke of Westminster. He was married four times and apparently was a real arsehole. The title passed to his cousin since Bendor had no sons. The cousin had no sons, so the title passed to another cousin, the grandson of the 1st Duke of Westminster, and then to his brother.
The current Duke’s father apparently had a nervous breakdown due to the pressures of his title. And I saw something about him employing prostitutes as well. Hopefully, Hugh won’t take after the men in his family!
Hugh looks like he’s 12 years old. I must be old.
Hugh is living William’s dream life, but note how Hugh has causes he cares about and interests related to them, as well as projects that he is actively undertaking for those causes and interests. William is completely incapable of any of that.