Seventh Duke of Westminster Hugh Grosvenor has topped the Sunday Times’ Rich List 2018 for the under 30s.

The duke, 27, and family, whose ancestral home is Eaton Hall near Chester , are said to be worth £9.964bn – up £444m from the previous year.

He is ranked number one in The Young Rich List and 10th in the overall list.

Hugh became Britain’s youngest billionaire after inheriting the title and the Grosvenor empire on the death of his father, the sixth Duke of Westminster, in August 2016.

Grosvenor Group has a massive property portfolio which includes 300 acres in London’s Mayfair and Belgravia, North America and Asia. Locally, the company owns the Liverpool One shopping mall.

Hugh Earl Grosvenor
The seventh Duke of Westminster with his late father.

Hugh was educated at Eccleston Primary before attending Ellesmere College where he met his childhood sweetheart Harriet Tomlinson.

Sharing his father’s love of football, he had trials for Crewe Alexandra at the age of 11.

After studying at Newcastle University he went on to work in estate management at Grosvenor’s Wheatsheaf Investment Company – which includes Aldford -based bull stud Cogent – and later Grosvenor Group.

Since January 2016 he has been accounts manager for London-based green energy firm Bio-bean that makes biofuel from recycled ground coffee.

The Grosvenor family are close to the royal family . Hugh is godfather to Prince George as his mother, the Duchess of Westminster , is godmother to Prince William.

This photo was taken at Chester Railway Station after Prince William and Kate visited Eaton Hall for the annual bonfire bash last November. Picture: Stephen Foote

And the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge visited Eaton Hall for the annual bonfire bash last November along with Prince George and Princess Charlotte when Kate was pregnant with Prince Louis.

Hugh is likely to be a guest at the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle at Windsor Castle on Saturday (May 19).

Also in the Rich List is former Chester resident Simon Nixon, founder of Ewloe-based Moneysupermarket.com, who is joint 110th in the list with an estimated £1.25bn fortune. Mr Nixon, who sold his shares in the business, relocated to Jersey in 2013.

Simon Nixon, founder of Moneysupermarket.com
Simon Nixon, founder of Moneysupermarket.com

Property developer Steve Morgan, 65, founder of Redrow, whose businesses are registered to Carden Hall, Cheshire, is 150th richest person with wealth valued at £942m – up £75m on last year.

Sir Malcolm Walker, 72, who co-founded Deeside-based frozen food group Iceland in 1970, is ranked 455th in the list. He and his family have an estimated £265m worth, an increase of £30m. Profits at the frozen food giant rose to £67.3m in 2016-17 and the family stake is valued at £155m.