Britain’s most eligible bachelor will, as of Friday, June 7, be a bachelor no more—the Duke of Westminster Hugh Grosvenor will marry Olivia Henson at Chester Cathedral in front of about 400 guests and “Hughie”—as he is known by friends—is “incredibly excited” about his wedding, but admitted it will be “nerve-racking,” according to The Sun.
Grosvenor, “who often maintains a low profile,” the outlet reports, is getting married in what The Times calls “the most royal non-royal wedding of the year,” and what The Daily Mail is calling “the society wedding of the decade.” Grosvenor “was long considered to be Britain’s most eligible bachelor and inherited his title and the Grosvenor Estate in 2016 after his father died after suffering a heart attack,” The Daily Express reports. “His estates are in the wealthy London neighborhoods of Belgravia and Mayfair, and the ancestral home in Cheshire, Eaton Hall.”
The groom-to-be, at just 33 years old, is the richest person under 35 in the U.K., The Times reports, and is worth £9.878 billion; he is also the 14th wealthiest overall, according to The Sunday Times’ Rich List 2024. He is also chair of the Grosvenor Group as well as chair of the Westminster Foundation, which the family uses to disburse their charitable donations.
Grosvenor’s family’s real estate portfolio includes 300 acres across the London neighborhoods Mayfair and Belgravia, and, according to The Sun, he is often described as owning “half of London.” (The family also owns buildings in more than 40 cities worldwide.) The Duke studied countryside management at Newcastle University and “Hugh is quite low-key,” friends said of him, according to The Times. “He takes his roles very seriously, but when he’s not working, he’s relaxed.”
One of his chief hobbies is skeet shooting, People reports, writing that “The Duke of Westminster has represented Team Great Britain at Olympic competitions overseas and around the U.K.”
Grosvenor is not royal, but is firmly royal-adjacent, as People reports that “the Grosvenor family’s ties to the British royals trace back generations.” King Charles is his godfather, and he is close friends with both Prince William and Prince Harry (and one of the few friends to remain close to both in the aftermath of, well, everything). Grosvenor is also the godfather to both men’s eldest children, Prince George and Prince Archie, respectively. Though Harry will skip Grosvenor’s wedding, William will serve as an usher, and George is expected to serve as a pageboy.
The Duke of Westminster inherited his title at just 25 years old when his father, Gerald Cavendish Grosvenor, died in 2016 at only 64; “the memorial service was attended by many members of the royal family,” People reports.
Because of the ongoing rift between William and Harry, only William will attend the ceremony Friday, alongside George. Princess Kate will miss the festivities as she continues to receive treatment for cancer, and King Charles will miss, too, as he will be returning from Normandy and the 80th anniversary commemorations of the D-Day landing there.
