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Queen leads condolences after sudden death of wealthy British aristocrat

Xinhua, August 11, 2016 Adjust font size:

The Queen has led tribute which continued to pour in Wednesday after the sudden death at 64 of the Duke of Westminster.

The Duke owned vast areas of the country, including extensive parts of the most up market parts of central London.

Earlier this year the Sunday Times Rich List placed the Sixth Duke of Westminster in fifth place, saying he makes most of his money from inherited land that dates back to 1677.

The Grosvenor family estate owns 122 hectares across west London, including wealthy areas like Belgravia and Mayfair. The Duke also owned substantial property in Japan and North America. His property empire also owned Liverpool One, one of the biggest shopping centers in Europe which was opened by Queen Elizabeth in 2008.

The ST reported that his net worth was put at 13.32 billion U.S. dollars (at April, 2016 sterling value).

He was a close personal friend of Queen Elizabeth and her husband, the Duke of Edinburgh, as well as Prince Charles and his wife, the Duchess of Cornwall. He was also Godparent to Prince William, heir to the British throne. Members of the Royal family have all sent personal condolences to the Duke's family.

The family of the Duke of Westminster, known as Gerald Grosvenor, issued a brief statement Tuesday night announcing his sudden death. He took ill at his Abbeystead estate in the north of England and was taken to hospital in Preston, Lancashire, but passed away.

No cause of his death was given, but the Daily Mail reported Wednesday he had suffered a heart attack.

The Guardian newspaper reported Wednesday that the Duke was believed to have been hit by a global stock market rout in the wake of Britain's vote to leave the European Union which led to Britain's 15 richest individuals losing 4 billion pounds (5.20 billion U.S. dollars) during the day.

The duke, whose company later warned that the Brexit vote had "chilled" investor interest in London, led the decline with a loss of around 950 million U.S. dollars, according to Bloomberg's billionaire index.

The title of Duke will be inherited by his eldest son. Endit