LONDON – LONDON (AP) — Prince William took a day off from royal duties on Friday to serve as an usher at the wedding of her friend Hugh Grosvenor, the Duke of Westminster.
The wedding of Grosvenor, 33, one of Britain’s richest landowners, to his partner Olivia Henson, 31, is one of Britain’s high society events of the year.
William, 41, arrived with his fellow ushers at Chester Cathedral in northwest England before the midday service. The location is close to the Duke’s 10,000-acre (4,000 hectare) estate at Eaton Hall, where guests were to attend a private wedding reception.
Spectators gathered outside the cathedral applauded the arrival of Grosvenor, dressed in a morning suit, and Henson, wearing a white wedding dress by British designer Emma Victoria Payne. Her long veil, worn over a tiara, billowed in the wind.
Grosvenor is godfather to 10-year-old Prince George, the eldest son of William and his wife Catherine.
Kate, who is being cancer treatment, he was not expected to attend the wedding. Nor William’s estranged younger brother Prince Harrywho lives in California with his wife Meghan and their two children.
Grosvenor inherited his title at the age of 25 when his father died in 2016. His ancestor, Sir Thomas Grosvenor, married heiress Mary Davies and acquired what was then moorland in 1677. Over the generations, the family transformed the land on two of the richest lands in London. neighborhoods, Mayfair and Belgravia.
The Grosvenor family estate owns 300 acres (121 hectares) of land in London, as well as land across Britain and housing, office and commercial space around the world.
The 2024 Sunday Times Rich List estimated the duke’s wealth at just over 10 billion pounds ($12.8 billion).
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