Hugh Grosvenor, the Duke of Westminster, married his wife Olivia last year, in what was called (by the British press) the “wedding of the year,” if not the wedding of the decade. They hyped the wedding so much, I was really expecting something very grand. It… did not turn out that way. Hugh and Olivia got married at a local Chester cathedral, and the wedding planners (??) decided to lay down beige-carpeted plywood as a sort of “platform” for the wedding party. The whole thing looked extremely budget. I wasn’t a fan of Olivia’s bridal look either, but others thought she looked nice. Part of the reason why the British press hyped the wedding so much was because Prince William wanted everyone to know that Hugh invited him and NOT HARRY. As it turned out, Hugh did invite Harry, and Harry declined the invitation.
Another reason why the Grosvenor/Westminster wedding was so hyped was because the family is stinking rich. The Grosvenors own a wide swath of prime London real estate and a grand country estate (which basically supports a whole county). When Hugh and Olivia married, they promised to recommit themselves to the country estate and start a family. Well, not even one year later and Olivia is expecting!
Congratulations are in order for the Duke and Duchess of Westminster, Hugh and Olivia Grosvenor, who are expecting their first child.
A spokesperson for the couple said in a statement released on March 12: “The Duke and Duchess of Westminster are very pleased to share that the Duchess is expecting a baby in the summer. The couple are delighted with the news and are very much looking forward to starting a family together.”
The child has some royal ties even before its birth, as Hugh is close friends with Prince William and Prince Harry. The Duke of Westminster is also a godfather to both of their first sons: Prince George and Prince Archie.
The Duke and Duchess tied the knot on June 7, 2024, with Prince William serving as an usher for the ceremony at Chester Cathedral. Princess Eugenie was also a guest at the high society wedding. While Prince Harry declined an invitation to the wedding, a source told PEOPLE at the time that his absence from Hugh’s wedding was an “understanding between the two friends.”
Hugh and Olivia met through friends, and he proposed to her at Eaton Hall, his family’s ancestral seat on the outskirts of Chester. The couple gave back to his hometown before their big day, visiting the children’s programs that the Westminster Foundation puts on at Chester Castle.
Hugh’s ties to the royal family trace back generations. He is a godson of King Charles and his mother, Natalia, is a godmother to Prince William.
Congrats to them! I’m glad they were able to start their family so quickly. They honestly seem like a pretty lowkey couple – when I wrote about them last year, I could not find any photos of them attending society events or even charity fundraisers. It’s a different thing when you’re British and you inherit that kind of money, I guess. Which is why it was so tacky that William was briefing about Hugh’s wedding to the Times of London – Hugh and Olivia clearly wanted no part of William’s childishness and look-at-me-Harry antics. Whenever this child is born, I predict that William will go on another briefing spree about how Hugh asked him AND NOT HARRY to be the godfather to this next-gen Grosvenor.
Photos courtesy of Cover Images.
