Following her long-awaited wedding to Hugh Grosvenor yesterday, Olivia Henson now holds the title of Duchess of Westminster.
The 31-year-old married the Duke of Westminster, 33, in a lavish ceremony at Chester Cathedral, attended by around 400 guests. And while much of the attention in the run-up to the wedding has focused on the big day itself, now that the couple is newly married, there is interest in how their lives will change.
Friends of the Duke, who is worth a staggering £9.3bn, reportedly say he and his new girlfriend are planning to move from London to live in Cheshire, where the Grosvenor family seat, Eaton Hall, is located. .
With his degree in Rural Management, Hugh (who previously represented the country in Olympic clay pigeon shooting competitions) reportedly wants to concentrate on farming, with reports pointing to a dairy farm on the 10,000-acre Eaton Hall estate.
Meanwhile, friends of his wife Olivia, 31, say she left her job at sustainable food company Belazu – which imports high-quality ingredients, including rose harissa and extra virgin olive oil from across Europe – to focus in its new “era”, according to tatler.
Hugh Grosvenor (pictured, left) and his then-fiancee Olivia Henson (pictured, right) in a photo shared to announce their engagement.
Olivia (pictured in Chester earlier this year) is now the Duchess of Westminster following her wedding to Hugh Grosvenor, the seventh Duke of Westminster.
While her marriage has brought her a new title and a share of her husband’s immense wealth, Olivia is no stranger to wealth or aristocracy, having her own family ties to high society.
According to the Telegraph, he is descended from the Hoare banking family, as well as the Marquesses of Bristol and the Dukes of Rutland. The outlet also said that her uncle is the Grand Master of the Scottish Freemasons and her father is stockbroker Rupert Henson.
While not much is known about Olivia, who seems to enjoy keeping a low profile, it has been reported that when she was young, Olivia was a student at the revered Dragon School in Oxford, where Emma was a classmate.
She then attended the elite Marlborough College (of which Kate Middleton is also an alumnus) before studying at the prestigious Trinity College in Dublin, where she graduated with an upper second class degree in Hispanic and Italian Studies.
Prior to working at B-Corp Belazu in 2019, Olivia worked for Daily Dose LDN and No1 Rosemary Water.
Little is known about how the couple met, although it is believed that they were introduced by friends in 2021.
Until his marriage, Hugh had been nicknamed “Britain’s most eligible bachelor.” This is largely due to his vast fortune, which makes him the richest man in the UK under the age of 40. Plus, he’s well-connected, as godson of King Charles and godfather to Prince George and Prince Archie.
Hugh became an instant multimillionaire in 2016, after his father Gerald Grosvenor suffered a sudden heart attack while walking in the countryside and died aged 64.
JUST MARRIED: Hugh Grosvenor and Olivia Henson, the Duke and Duchess of Westminster, are photographed beaming as they leave Chester Cathedral after their wedding ceremony.
Tatler reported that Olivia (pictured on her wedding day) has left her job at sustainable food company Belazu as she enters her new ‘era’.
His vast estate includes 300 acres in London’s Mayfair and Belgravia, two of the most expensive areas in the world.
This is in addition to properties in Oxford, Scotland and properties around the world, including the family’s 10,872-acre estate at Eaton Hall in Cheshire.
Olivia and Hugh, who announced their engagement on April 23, 2023, after two years of dating, held a series of charity engagements in Chester ahead of their wedding.
During one of them, they confirmed their plans to move north, and Olivia said: ‘It’s obviously somewhere we’ll live.
The Duke of Westminster is friends with Prince William and Prince Harry, and is godfather to Prince George and Prince Archie (pictured with Prince William at the wedding of Edward van Cutsem and Lady Tamara Grosvenor in 2004).
Prince William (pictured, right) was an usher at the Chester wedding of Hugh Grosvenor (pictured, left) and Olivia Henson (seen at the official handover to the nation of the newly built National Rehabilitation Center and Defense in Leeds in 2018).
“We will build our lives together and slowly transition to moving away from London and being much more permanent here and really putting down roots.”
He added that moving to Cheshire was an “easy decision” for the couple.
Perhaps the decision was easy because Hugh has a “genuine love for the land”, according to Jill Attenborough, chief executive of The Country Trust.
The charity, of which Hugh is chairman, encourages children from less advantaged backgrounds to visit farms (including those on their family property) to help them connect with the “land that sustains us all”.
Talking with him TelegraphJill added that Hugh is “really inspired by the land” and “so he enjoys having the opportunity to bring it to the kids.”
The Duke of Westminster and his then-fiancee Olivia Henson are pictured during a charity visit to Chester earlier this year, ahead of their wedding.
The couple visit Chester Cathedral ahead of their wedding on June 7. During the outing, Olivia (pictured, centre) revealed that moving to Cheshire had been an “easy decision”.
Describing the 33-year-old as a “very authentic person”, he added: “He is really aware of his responsibility as the next generation of farmers and landowners and tries to gently, and certainly not aggressively, appeal to his network, as well as ‘next generation’, to talk about whether they could also host children on their farms and properties and show what they are doing for a more sustainable future.’
As part of his work with the charity, the outlet reported that the duke currently aims to take part in school visits as much as he can, interacting with children as they learn about farming and the land.
While the couple revealed they will be making a “slow transition” north, they will reportedly still visit London regularly due to Hugh’s role as chairman of the Grosvenor Group, which owns huge tracts of land in the capital.
In addition to his rural affairs, according to the Telegraph, he is “actively involved” in the group’s urban real estate development, as well as its food and agricultural technology.
Additionally, Hugh is also president of the Westminster Foundation, which the family uses to disburse their charitable donations.
