2024 had a 'royal' wedding and it was a lovely day!

It was a windy day, and the bride's train had the tendency to fly like a kite, but the crowd at UK's royal wedding of the year was relaxed and cheerful. Hugh Grosvenor, the 7th Duke of Westminster, married Olivia Henson on June 7, 2024 at Chester Cathedral.

Olivia Henson is now the Duchess of Westminster. She wore a wedding dress and veil by designer Emma Victoria Payne and added a special tiara representing her connection with the Grosvenor family.

As People magazine noted, the tiara "was made for Grosvenor brides. The Faberge Myrtle Leaf Tiara has been in the Grosvenor family since its creation in 1906, and it was also the headpiece that Hugh's sister Lady Tamara wore at her 2004 nuptials."

Prince William was one of the important guests at the wedding. He served as an usher during the ceremony, showing the main guests their seats in the cathedral. Princess Catherine did not accompany him due to her ongoing health problems.

To Prince William, the Duke of Westminster is an important figure. He is one of Prince George's godfathers and a good friend of the Prince of Wales.

Another notable guest among the 400 attendees was Princess Eugenie. She came along with some friends of hers and without her husband Jack Brooksbank. According to Hello magazine, she was chatty and cracking jokes while drinking beer from the bottle. A nice day out!

Absent from the wedding were King Charles and Queen Camilla. The King is still dealing with his cancer treatment, just like the Princess of Wales.

In the absence of Catherine and grandfather Charles, there was the expectation that at least young Prince George would accompany his dad. Hugh Grosvenor is a godparent to Prince George, after all. But the young boy was not there. He probably had school that Friday, People magazine assumes.

Hugh Grosvenor, Duke of Westminster, was long considered one of the country's most eligible bachelors. On The Sunday Times Rich List, he was named the richest person under the age of 35.

The Duke's godfather is King Charles. His mother Natalia, in turn, is godmother to Prince William. Princess Diana was godmother to one of Hugh's sisters, Lady Edwina Grosvenor. All in all, his family has deep connections to the royal family.

Grosvenor inherited the Duke of Westminster title and a £9 billion estate after his father's sudden heart attack in 2016, according to the Mirror. The photo shows him arriving at his father's memorial service.

Listed as one of the 20 richest people in the UK by The Sunday Times, the Duke of Westminster is reportedly worth $12.8 billion.

Hugh is clearly interested in sport and has represented Team GB at Olympic Skeet Shooting competitions abroad and in the UK. What is that, you ask? Shooting clay targets out of the sky with a shotgun. Ah, the life of a gentleman.

After his father died, Hugh became the head of The Grosvenor Group, which owns several huge areas of London, as well as land and over 1,500 buildings all across the world. In London, the group owns Park Lane, half of Mayfair (the area of London shown in the image), and 300 acres of Belgravia.

The family also has several large estates including Eaton Hall in Cheshire and the Abbeystead Estate in Lancashire, as well as homes in Scotland and Spain.

Image: Bjorn Snelders / Unsplash

The Duke has inherited much more than 'just' habitable real estate. Some of the most impressive buildings owned by the group include the Liverpool One shopping centre, a large chunk of Silicon Valley in California, a residential tower in Tokyo, and Annacis Island, near Vancouver.

The new Duchess of Westminster is 31 years old. She is a Marlborough alumna, just like Catherine Middleton, and went on to study Hispanic Studies and Italian at Trinity College in Dublin.

Photo: Grosvenor, 2023

After graduating in 2016, she built her career with an environmentally friendly gourmet food company, Belazu. As Tatler reports, she is a senior account manager at the company. It "imports high-quality ingredients from across Europe," including "rose harissa, EVO and preserved lemons to partridge, port and estate-shot venison," Tatler explains.

Town & Country reported that the couple met through friends and got engaged after two years of dating. They did so at the Duke's family home at Eaton Hall in Cheshire in April 2023. A spokesperson shared that "members of both their families are absolutely delighted with the news."

Photo: Neil Kennedy / Wikimedia

Town and Country also cited a spokesperson in explaining that "the couple have chosen the cathedral for both its beauty and long association with the Grosvenor family, including to the Duke personally. Cheshire is the Grosvenor family’s ancestral home."

At the ceremony in Chester Cathedral, Prince Harry was conspicuously absent. He's as important to Hugh Grosvenor as Prince William and his son Archie is Grosvenor's godson. However, according to the Times, he was not invited.

"It’s incredibly sad it has come to this. Hugh is one of very few close friends of William and Harry’s who has maintained strong bonds and a line of communication with both," a friend of the princes told the Sunday Times.

As it would be uncertain whether the brothers together would cause awkward moments or extreme press attention, the friend explained, Hugh "wanted to avoid anything overshadowing the day, especially for Olivia, and doesn’t want any awkwardness."

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