Duke of Westminster died of a heart attack, confirms coroner
Gerald Cavendish Grosvenor, 64, died on Tuesday passing £9bn fortune to his 25-year-old son
BILLIONAIRE landowner the Duke of Westminster died of a heart attack, a coroner has confirmed.
Preston coroner’s office said an inquest into the death of Gerald Cavendish Grosvenor will not take place because he died of natural causes.
The duke, who was 64 and a close friend of the Royal Family, died on Tuesday afternoon at the Royal Preston Hospital after being transferred from his Abbeystead Estate in Lancashire.
A spokeswoman for the coroner’s office confirmed the cause of death was myocardial infarction.
It came as a tribute to the late 6th Duke was posted today on the Grosvenor website.
It said: “He was a passionate country man, committed soldier, an excellent shot, a true entrepreneur and, importantly, he went out of his way to be courteous and humorous with all people, regardless of status or wealth.
“Distinctly down-to-earth, the Duke of Westminster was rarely seen without a Diet Coke and a cigarette (later electric).
“Not much of a sleeper, one might expect emails from him at any hour of the night and an average week would see him up and down from home in Chester to London and all over the world to visit soldiers, businesses, charities and rural estates while representing and promoting numerous organisations.”
The landowner was worth £8.3 billion, according to Forbes, making him the 68th richest person in the world and third in the UK.
He owned 190 acres in Belgravia in central London as well as thousands of acres in Scotland and Spain.
His vast fortune passes to his son babyfaced playboy son Hugh, 25, who becomes the 7th Duke of Westminster.
He is also survived by the Duchess Natalia, whom he wed in 1978, and their three daughters Lady Tamara, Lady Edwina and Lady Viola.