The billionaire pal of and Harry has announced he and his wife are expecting their first child.

The , also known as Hugh Grosvenor, and his wife Olivia, now the Duchess of Westminster, are preparing to welcome their baby in the summer. The duke, one of the UK’s biggest landowners, is a close friend of both the Prince of Wales and the , and godfather to and also reportedly to .

William acted as an usher at his wedding in Chester Cathedral last year but Harry mutually agreed with the groom he would not attend amid his long-running rift with his brother.

READ MORE:

A spokesman for the couple said: "The duchess is expecting a baby in the summer. The couple are delighted with the news and are very much looking forward to starting a family together."

Hugh, once considered one of the country’s most eligible bachelors, became an instant billionaire when he inherited his title and control of the historic Grosvenor Estate aged 25, following the death of his father from a heart attack in 2016.

His property company, Grosvenor Group, owns hundreds of acres of land in Mayfair and Belgravia, as well as major city centre developments such as Liverpool’s One shopping centre. In 2020, the duke donated £12.5 million to the UK’s Covid-19 relief effort including funds for Charities Together and for medical research and development.

As it stands, that also led to Hugh inheriting the immense Grosvenor fortune, estimated at £10bn. Peerages only pass down the male line (known as male primogeniture), which means that the peerage can only be inherited by a male relative.

Therefore, if the Duke and Duchess's child is a girl, under the current laws, she will not be entitled to inherit the Westminster title, nor the family fortune and estate that goes with it. Instead, she would be styled as Lady, while an eldest son would be known as Earl Grosvenor until he inherits the dukedom.

The same rule also directly impacted Hugh, who has two older sisters, Lady Tamara and Lady Edwina Grosvenor. When their father, Gerald Grosvenor, 6th Duke of Westminster, died in 2016, the family title went to Hugh, his third child and only son.

His marriage has reignited the debate over the archaic rule, with campaigners preventing younger sons inheriting over firstborn daughters.

The family has several enormous estates that include Eaton Hall in Cheshire and the Abbeystead Estate in Lancashire, as well as homes in and Spain. is , according to with an estimated wealth of £10.127 billion, rising from £9.878 billion in 2023.