Duke of Westminster

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Image:Westminstercoa.JPG The title of Duke of Westminster was created by Queen Victoria in 1874 and bestowed upon Richard Grosvenor, the 3rd Marquess of Westminster. The title is derived from Westminster.

Sir Richard Grosvenor, the 7th Baronet, was created Baron Grosvenor in 1761 and in 1784 became both Viscount Belgrave and Earl Grosvenor under George III. The title Marquess of Westminster was bestowed upon Robert Grosvenor the 2nd Earl Grosvenor at the coronation of William IV in 1831.

The subsidiary titles are: Marquess of Westminster (created 1831), Earl Grosvenor (1784), Viscount Belgrave, of Belgrave in the County of Chester (1784), and Baron Grosvenor, of Eaton in the County of Chester (1761). The Marquessate is in the Peerage of the United Kingdom; the rest are in the Peerage of Great Britain. The courtesy title of the eldest son and heir to the Duke is Earl Grosvenor.

The Grosvenor family was well known in the Middle Ages when it unsuccessfully disputed the right to the coat of arms "Azure a Bend Or" with the more prominent Scrope family (Scrope v Grosvenor 1385 - 1390). In 1677, Sir Thomas Grosvenor married Mary Davies who was heiress of 500 acres of rural land on the outskirts of London. As London grew, this property became the source of the family's immense wealth, as it was developed into the fashionable areas of Mayfair and Belgravia, which remains the basis of the family fortune. At least 500 roads, squares and buildings bear their family names and titles, and the names of place and people connected with them, including Grosvenor Square, Belgrave Square, North Audley Street, South Audley Street, and Davies Street. This is now held by a company called Grosvenor Group. The family's main country seat is Eaton Hall in Cheshire.