Gerald Grosvenor, 6th Duke of Westminster
The Duke of Westminster and his family have been associated with Blesma for many years. He became the Association’s National President in the summer of 1992 after having been patron of the Chester Branch.
The Duke of Westminster was the richest person born in Britain. He inherited significant real estate holdings, including land in London, Lancashire, Cheshire, Vancouver, Australia, California, and Singapore.
The Duke was the biggest property developer in London, yet he would far preferred to have been the Ulster beef farmer to which, by upbringing and temperament, he was suited. “I’d rather not have been born wealthy,” he once said, while his advice to young entrepreneurs was simple: “Have an ancestor who was good friends with William the Conqueror.”
That Gerald Grosvenor would succeed was not certain when he was born in Omagh, Northern Ireland, in 1951. As a result of his father’s farming interests and his dutiful involvement in Ulster politics – he was the Unionist MP for Fermanagh and South Tyrone from 1955 to 1964 – the family lived on the only inhabited island of the 365 in Lough Erne. A visit to the sweet shop involved a round trip of 14 miles.
My childhood was the nearest thing to Swallows and Amazons one could possibly imagine,” reflected the Duke. “There wasn’t one unhappy moment. I thought I’d spend the rest of my life there but then, at the age of 15, I realised that everything was about to change.” The first he knew of what was coming was when a reporter approached him at school to ask what he thought of being the next Duke of Westminster.
Gerald Grosvenor was first sent to a boarding school in Enniskillen, where he was one of five boys among 450 pupils. He progressed to Harrow, which he loathed. His sense of isolation was compounded by the death of his uncle, the 4th Duke, in 1967.
In 1978, aged 26, he married his wife Natalia Phillips. The Duke and his wife had four children, including their son Hugh Richard Louis Grosvenor, 7th Duke of Westminster, and they resided at Eaton Hall in Cheshire.
During the 90s, he expanded his business into Asia, Europe, and eventually North America. The Grosvenor family's assets greatly increased due to wise decisions and guidance, coupled with an increasing real estate market. This resulted in a higher rank on the Sunday Times Rich list.
He often said that he was a countryman and did not enjoy urban life. “I like simple meals,” he continued, “an omelette, a salad, a baked potato. I’ve never understood all that nouvelle cuisine.”
In the evenings, he liked to watch old comedies on UK Gold, and then tuck up with “a historic heavyweight”. He also liked thrillers – “fun, blunder and a healthy dose of sex”.
The Duke was the patron of 150 charities and had a deep-rooted passion for philanthropic activities. The Duke and his family have a long history of philanthropy. The Westminster Foundation, established by the Duke, continues to support various charitable causes. Lady Edwina Louise Grosvenor also shares this passion for charity.
He found much satisfaction after he joined the Territorial Army, where he succeeded largely on his own merits. He joined as a trooper in 1970, was commissioned in The Queen’s Own Yeomanry, and in the course of 40 years as a Reservist rose to command it, the North Irish Horse and the Cheshire Yeomanry Squadron.
"In the TA, I started as an equal, with no advantages. I’ve done it all on my own. That’s why it matters so much. I get told what to do, so it’s kept my feet on the ground.
I also meet people I wouldn’t otherwise meet — my squadron were all Scousers and my regiment were from the mining areas... they saw me tucking into a fried egg butty and didn’t understand.”
Gerald Cavendish Grosvenor was also appointed Assistant Chief of Defence Staff, Reserves and Cadets. His three years in charge coincided with an unprecedented level of deployment of its personnel, with some 15,000 seeing active service in Iraq (which he visited 14 times), Afghanistan (10 trips, often at weekends), Sierra Leone and the Balkans.
He never allowed these expenses to be paid by the taxpayer.
The Duke was also the driving force behind the new Defence and National Rehabilitation Centre. He gave a founding gift of £50 million, to start it all off and bought the land for it to be built on.
In 1980, he bought the Lancashire grouse moor of Abbeystead, and it was there that he was taken fatally ill. He had previously survived a bout with cancer. Major General Gerald Cavendish Grosvenor, 6th Duke of Westminster, was born on 22 December 1951. He died on 09 August, 2016, at the age of 64.