The Duke of Westminster is planning to settle down into a life of farming after his wedding, friends have revealed.
Hugh Grosvenor, 33, will marry duchess-to-be Olivia Henson in Chester Cathedral, Cheshire, in what is being dubbed the society wedding of the year next week.
Mr Grosvenor, the 7th Duke of Westminster, is close friends with both the Prince of Wales and Prince Harry. He is godfather to Prince George and to Harry’s son Archie and he is the godson of the King.
After the ceremony, where Prince William will be an usher, the couple plan to ‘lay down the foundations of their future’ in Chester, where friends say the duke will nurture his love of ‘nature, sustainability and farming’.
Friends told The Telegraph that the duke, dubbed the UK’s ‘most eligible bachelor’, has a ‘genuine love of the land’.
Known as ‘Hughie’ to friends, the duke became one of the UK’s largest landowners when he inherited an estimated £10.13billion portfolio, which includes more than 1,500 properties in 60 countries, after his father died of a heart attack in 2016.
The duke is also the president of the Country Trust which encourages disadvantaged children to connect with ‘the land that sustains us all’ via visits to Britain’s farms, including the duke’s Grosvenor Farms on his Easton Estate in Cheshire.
Around 400 wedding guests will head to the sprawling 11,000-acre estate after the nuptials at Chester Cathedral next Friday.
Jill Attenborough, CEO of the Country Trust, told The Telegraph that the duke is a ‘very authentic person’.
Ms Attenborough added: ‘He’s really aware of his responsibility as the next generation of farmers and landowners and he gently, certainly not in a sort of pushy way, tries to draw in his network as well of ‘next gen’ to talk about whether they might also welcome children into their farms and estates and showcase what they’re doing for a more sustainable future.’
Guests, who have been issued a strict no gifts instruction, will descend upon Chester next Friday.
Considering that the duke was named the UK’s wealthiest person under 40 for the second year running in the Sunday Times Rich List last month, it’s likely to be a very exclusive and lavish affair.
Chester is set to be decorated with 100,000 flowers paid for by the duke which will be donated to local charities following the ceremony in keeping with the theme of sustainability.
The couple have recently enjoyed a few public charitable visits to Chester, with Miss Henson, the daughter of a banker, insisting they want to ‘put down roots’ in the north-west.
‘It’s obviously a place where we will live,’ the bride-to-be said. ‘We’ll be building our lives together and we’re slowly transitioning to move up from London and be much more permanent here and really putting roots down.’
She said it was ‘an easy decision’ for the couple to make, The Telegraph reports.
Among the guests is future King Prince William, 41, who will be performing the role of an usher during the ceremony.
The Mail on Sunday has reported that alongside his father, Prince George, the duke’s godson, is also set to play a prominent role in the wedding.
Hugh and William have long enjoyed a close friendship so it is perhaps unsurprising that the Prince of Wales will take on a starring role in the nuptials.
The Princess of Wales is not expected to attend the wedding as she continues her recovery from cancer.
However, aside from the royal father-of-three, the 400-strong guest list, like many of the details of the wedding, have been kept under wraps.
The duke is obviously well connected as the son of Gerald Grosvenor, who died in August 2016 when Hugh was just 15 years old.
As well as Prince William, Hugh is also close friends with Prince Harry. But Harry and Meghan Markle will remain in the US while Prince Archie’s godfather ties the knot.
Amid reports that the Prince of Wales will be an usher at the wedding, sources told the Mail on Sunday that Harry was ‘put out’ by the decision because he had always regarded himself as being closer to the Duke.
The source claimed: ‘William was asked to have a prominent role in the wedding and that’s what triggered Harry to decline an invitation. Apparently he [Harry] was put out by the request when he thought it should have been him.’
Referencing the lack of public details about the occasion, the source added: ‘Both the Palace and Hugh’s people decided to hold dear the operational part of the wedding once the leak about Harry not attending made the papers.’
The attendance of King Charles and Queen Camilla at the society wedding of the year is still unconfirmed.
The wedding was announced by the duke’s spokesperson in April after the couple got engaged at Eaton Hall.
A photo was shared of the newly engaged couple with a statement, which read: ‘The Duke of Westminster and Miss Olivia Henson are delighted to announce they are engaged to be married.’
‘The couple, who have been together for two years, recently became engaged at the Duke’s family home at Eaton Hall in Cheshire.
‘Members of both their families are absolutely delighted with the news.
‘Hugh Grosvenor, The Duke of Westminster, is Grosvenor’s Chair as well as Chair of the Westminster Foundation.’
Mr Grosvenor succeeded his father to become the Duke of Westminster in 2016, inheriting the title and estate when he died aged 64.