Billionaire landowner the Duke of Westminster has died aged 64, his estate said.
Gerald Cavendish Grosvenor died at the Royal Preston Hospital in Lancashire on Tuesday.
He had suddenly become ill on his Abbeystead Estate, a spokesman added.
He was one of the UK’s richest landowners, with a fortune estimated at $10.8bn (£8.3bn) by Forbes magazine. That would make him the world’s 68th richest person and the UK’s third.
‘Privacy’
One of his four children, Hugh Grosvenor, the heir to the dukedom, is Prince George’s youngest godfather.
Giving news of the duke’s death, a spokeswoman said: “His family are all aware and they ask for privacy and understanding at this very difficult time.
“No further comment will be made for the time being but further information will follow in due course.”
Among properties across the UK he owned 190 acres in Belgravia, an area near to Buckingham Palace, and one of London’s most expensive districts.
A Buckingham Palace spokeswoman said: “I can confirm that Her Majesty the Queen is aware of the news about the Duke of Westminster.
“A message of condolence is being sent by the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh.”
The Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall are “deeply shocked and greatly saddened” by the sudden death of their friend the Duke of Westminster, a Clarence House spokeswoman added.
The Grosvenor family accrued much of their London wealth through the marriage of Sir Thomas Grosvenor to the heiress Mary Davies in 1677.
According to the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography she brought Grosvenor “the estates which would become the cornerstone of the family’s later wealth”.
The estates were described as Ebury farm, east of Chelsea, and a large holding between Tyburn Brook and Park Lane in central London. Today these are part of the wealthy Belgravia and Mayfair districts.
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