Duke of Westminster
Duke of Westminster is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created by Queen Victoria in 1874 and bestowed upon Hugh Grosvenor, 3rd Marquess of Westminster. It is the most recent dukedom conferred on someone not related to the British royal family.
| Dukedom of Westminster | |
|---|---|
Quarterly: 1st and 4th, Azure a Portcullis with chains pendant Or on a Chief of the last between two united Roses of York and Lancaster a Pale charged with the Arms of King Edward the Confessor (City of Westminster); 2nd and 3rd, Azure a Garb Or (Grosvenor). | |
| Creation date | 27 February 1874 |
| Created by | Queen Victoria |
| Peerage | Peerage of the United Kingdom |
| First holder | Hugh Grosvenor, 3rd Marquess of Westminster |
| Present holder | Hugh Grosvenor, 7th Duke of Westminster |
| Heir apparent | None |
| Remainder to | 1st Duke's heirs male of the body lawfully begotten |
| Subsidiary titles | Marquess of Westminster Earl Grosvenor Viscount Belgrave Baron Grosvenor Baronet, of Eaton |
| Seat(s) | Eaton Hall and Abbeystead House |
| Motto | VIRTUS NON STEMMA (Virtue, not ancestry) |
| Grosvenor Baronets | |
|---|---|
Azure, a garb Or, with canton of baronet | |
| Creation date | 1622 |
| Created by | King James VI and I |
| Baronetage | Baronetage of England |
| First holder | Richard Grosvenor |
| Present holder | Hugh Grosvenor, 7th Duke of Westminster |
| Remainder to | 1st Baronet's heirs male of the body lawfully begotten |
The 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th Dukes were each grandsons of the first. The present holder of the title is Hugh Grosvenor, the 7th Duke, who inherited the dukedom on 9 August 2016 on the death of his father, Gerald. The present duke is a godfather of Prince George of Wales.
The Duke of Westminster's seats are at Eaton Hall, Cheshire, and at Abbeystead House, Lancashire. The family's London town house was Grosvenor House, Park Lane, while Halkyn Castle was built as a sporting lodge for the family in the early 1800s. The traditional burial place of the Dukes is the Old Churchyard adjacent to St Mary's Church, Eccleston.