Who is Natalia Grosvenor, mother of the Duke of Westminster: owner of a vineyard in Portofino, godmother of Prince William and descendant of Tsar Nicholas I

Friday 7 June Natalia Grosvenor he will experience one of the happiest days of his life. Son of him, Hugh Grosvenor will marry Olivia Henson in Chester Cathedral, with a ceremony attended by members of the British royal family, with whom the Grosvenors have a close relationship. Natalia Grosvenor, who will walk down the aisle with her third child, is the widow of the duca of Westminster and she also has aristocratic origins.

Natalia Grosvenor at Harry and Meghan’s wedding

Max Mumby/Indigo/Getty Images

Natalia Ayesha Phillips she is the lieutenant colonel’s youngest daughter Harold Phillips and of Georgina Wernher. His father was a British Army officer in the Coldstream Guards and during the Second World War he was assigned to coordinate British security in New York and the Allied mission in Washington. Natalia’s paternal grandparents were Colonel Joseph Phillips And Mary Bryce, daughter of John Paul Bryce, a member of the British nobility. Her paternal family founded the shipping company Bryce & Co and one of the largest banks in Latin America. On her maternal side, her grandparents were Sir Harold Wernher, British officer and diamond magnate, and the Countess Anastasia de Torbydaughter of Grand Duke Michael Mickhailovich of Russia, grandson of Tsar Nicholas I of Russia.

Natalia’s parents married on 10 October 1944 at St Margaret’s Church, Westminster, and had four further children before Natalia was born. The eldest daughter, Alexandra Anastasiamarried the 5th Duke of Abercorn in 1966; Nicholas married Countess Marie Lucie Czernin von und zu Chudenitz; Fiona Mercedes married James Burnett of Leys and Marita married Randall Cwawley and later Andrew Knight. She and her brothers are direct descendants of the poet Alexander Pushkin. Sister Marita composed songs for Demis Roussos And Art Garfunkel and a work in honor of his ancestor Alexander Pushkin. The family was struck by tragedy in 1991, when Nicholas died prematurely at the age of 41.

Natalia and her siblings grew up in Thorpe Lubenham Hall, a splendid home owned by his maternal grandfather, where the family regularly entertained members of the British royal family. In 1966 they sold Thorpe Lubenham and moved to Checkendon Court, a manor house in south Oxfordshire, although they spent time in another mansion in Aberdeenshire and in a flat they owned in London.

Natalia Grosvenor and the Duke of Westminster married in October 1978

Natalia Grosvenor and the Duke of Westminster married in October 1978

Wesley/Getty Images

Marriage to one of the richest men in England

Natalia met Gerald Grosvenor in 1977 at a ball at Blenheim Palacea country house in Woodstock home to the Duke and Duchess of Marlborough and one of the largest houses in England, built between 1705 and 1722 and declared a World Heritage Site in 1987. Gerald was the son of Robert Grosvenor5th Duke of Westminster, e Viola Lyttelton. Born in Northern Ireland, he was educated at several boarding schools in the south of England where he was subjected to bullying, which marked him for life. He later attended the Royal Academy at Sandhurst and served in the British Army.

Thanks to Grosvenor Estates, inherited together with the Duchy in 1979 after his father’s death, the Duke was the richest property developer in the United Kingdom and one of the largest landowners in the country, with properties in Edinburgh, Oxford and Cheshire, including the country mansion of the Eaton Hall family, as well as several plots of land in neighborhoods most luxurious in London, Mayfair And Belfravia. The Duke was also director of the luxurious Claridge’s Hotel from 1981 to 1993 and Marcher Sound from 1992 to 1997.

The couple had four children.  The Duke passed away in 2016

The couple had four children. The Duke passed away in 2016

Max Mumby/Indigo/Getty Images

Natalia and Gerald they married at St Mary’s Church, Luton, on 17 October 1978. The bride wore a dress designed by Sarah Butler and an antique diamond and spinel tiara which Grosvenor had purchased for her and which had belonged to Princess Catherine Bagration. Among the wedding guests were Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester, and the Princes of Kent. The Duke of Westminster died four months after the wedding and Gerald inherited the title and Natalia became Duchess of Westminster. The couple had four children. The eldest daughter, Lady Tamara Katherine, was born in 1979 and married Edward van Cutsem, son of Hugh van Cutsem, in Chester Cathedral. The couple has three children: Jake, Louis and Isla.

Lady Edwina Louise she came into the world two years later and in 2010 she married the British presenter Daniel Snow, with whom she has three children (Zia, Wolf and Orla); Hugh was born in 1991 and Lady Viola Georgina in 1992. In 2002 she married Angus Roberts, a member of the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards. In 1989 the Duke of Westminster was deemed the second richest person in the UKpreceded only by Queen Elizabeth II. The Duke of Westminster’s fortune, valued at over nine billion euros, far exceeds that of the Windsors. The Duchess has been going through a difficult time in 2016, when the Duke of Westminster died for a heart attack. Hugh succeeded him as Duke and inherited his father’s immense fortune.

Natalia Grosvenor with one of her daughters

Natalia Grosvenor with one of her daughters

Karwai Tang

Relations with the British royal family

Natalia Grosvenor is one of those women of the British high aristocracy who has always preferred to keep a low profile. Her relationship with the British royal family is so close that she was called upon to act as godmother at baptism and confirmation of the Prince William of England; King Charles he is Hugh Grosvenor’s godfather; Diana of Wales she was the godmother of her daughter Edwina, and her son Hugh is the godfather of Prince George, son of William and Kate Middleton. Of course, Natalia and her children they didn’t miss the big weddings of the sons of Charles III and were present at both Harry and Meghan’s wedding and that of the current Prince and Princess of Wales. Hugh is a close friend of Prince William and Prince Harry.

Engaged in philanthropic work in Cheshire and much of the United Kingdom, the mother of the Duke of Westminster owns La Cappelletta, a vineyard in Portofino, in Italy, where it produces Vermentino della Cappelletta. The vineyard and olive grove are located within the Portofino Park, a protected area since 1935, with a splendid view of the Marina.

Source: Vanity Fair

You may also like