How the Duke of Westminster’s family turned 300 acres of SWAMP into a £9billion fortune

THE late Duke of Westminster died suddenly of a  suspected heart attack in 2016.

Landowner Gerald Cavendish Grosvenor was once Britain’s wealthiest man and left his £9.35 billion fortune, his sprawling country estates and the running of his property business to his only son, Hugh, 25.

The Grosvenor Group launched in 1677 after the Duke’s ancestor Sir Thomas Grosvenor wed wealthy heiress Mary Davies.

Mary had recently inherited a medieval manor and 500 acres of swamp land, which was located to the west of the City of London.

Unlike the sprawling metropolis London is today, back in the 1600s it was encapsulated within the City’s Roman-built walls.

An estimated 375,000 residents lived in overcrowded and unsanitary conditions, which caused numerous outbreaks of the plague.

The Grosvenor family left the pasture relatively untouched until 1720 when they began building on the northern part of the land.

Wealthy citizens relocated to this area – now known as Middlesex and Surrey – and built themselves country residences.

The west became home to affluent, aristocratic residents while poorer residents were confined the central and eastern parts of the city.

Like modern day Candy Brothers, The Grosvenor Group decided to build magnificent homes for the rich in an area now known as Mayfair.

They designed streets lined with terrace mansions that featured grand pillars, ornate balconies and floor-to-ceiling windows.

Nearly 400 years on, the area is a fashionable district – centred on Grosvenor Square – and is an exclusive part of the city’s vibrant West End.

In the early 1800s – as London’s population neared one million – the family began transforming southern parts of the land.

The area became Belgravia, which takes its name from one of the Duke’s subsidiary titles, Viscount Belgrave, and the village of Belgrave is just two miles from the Grosevnor’s family country seat in Cheshire.

During the 1820s, the ambitious family hired surveyor Thomas Cundy and builder Thomas Cubitt to design the area’s upmarket streets and private gardens.

The introduction of the London Underground in 1863 helped urbanise the area, as well as nearby locations including Paddington and Islington.

During the 19th century, London was transformed into the world’s largest city and capital of the British Empire.

Its population rapidly expanded to 6.7 million and it became a global political, financial, and trading capital.

The Grosvenor Group also developed Pimlico but sold it off the area in 1953.

After transforming central London, the family business looked to ventures overseas.

During the second half of the 20th century, the company expanded into the Americas and developed Annacis Island and Vancouver in Canada in the 1950s.

In the 1960s they launched projects in Australia, before moving their attention to Asia in the early 1990s and continental Europe just before the millennium.

In April 2000, the firm moved into new London officers and the business was headed by the 6th Duke of Westminster, who was Chairman of the Trustees.

The hugely-successful business, which still owns 300 acres of the original land Mary inherited, remains privately owned.

Gerald, who is Prince William’s godfather, died at the Royal Preston Hospital in Lancashire.

The Duke was a close friend of the Royal Family’s and his only son, Earl Grosvenor, is Prince George’s godfather.

It is not known if he he had been suffering from ill health before his sudden death, although he has previously been described as a chain-smoker.