On 1 April 1908, he was named honorary lieutenant-colonel of the 16th Battalion, The London Regiment, a post he held until 1915. The Duke served with the Cheshire Yeomanry during World War I, developing a prototype Rolls-Royce Armoured Car for their use. During their 1916 campaign in Egypt, as part of the Western Frontier Force under General William Peyton, the Duke (then a major) commanded the armoured cars of the regiment and took part in the destruction of a Senussi force at Agagia on 26 February1916. On 14 March1916, he led the armoured cars on a raid that destroyed the enemy camp at Bir Asiso. Learning that the crews of HMT Moorina and HMS Tara were being held at Bir Hakkim, he led the armoured cars on a 120-mile dash to rescue them before returning. He received the DSO for this exploit. He was subsequently promoted colonel and on 26 May1917, he was named honorary colonel of the regiment.
In 1925, he was introduced to Gabrielle ("Coco") Chanel after a party in Monte Carlo and pursued her. He was as extravagant with her as he was with all of his lovers. One famous story is that he hid a huge uncut emerald at the bottom of a crate of vegetables for her, another is that he showed up at Chanel's apartment with an enormous bouquet of flowers and was only recognized after Chanel's assistant tried to hand "the delivery boy" a tip. He was Chanel's lover until 1930.
In 1931, the Duke, a Conservative "outed" his brother-in-law, William Lygon, 7th Earl Beauchamp (1872-1938), as a homosexual to the King and Queen; he reportedly hoped to ruin the Liberal Party through Beauchamp. Homosexuality was a criminal offence at the time, and the King was horrified, saying "I thought men like that shot themselves." During the run-up to World War II, he supported various right-wing and anti-semitic causes, including the Right Club.
Marriages and issue
Constance Edwina Cornwallis-West
He married, firstly, Constance Edwina (Shelagh) Cornwallis-West (1876-1971), the sister of Daisy Princess von Pless and the youngest daughter of Colonel Frederick Cornwallis-West, descended from John West, 2nd Earl de la Warr, on 16 February1901 and they were divorced in 1919[1]. They had three children[1]:
Lady Ursula Mary Olivia Grosvenor (21 February1902[1] -1978), married, firstly, William Patrick Filmer-Sankey in 1924 and was divorced in 1940. She married, secondly, Major Stephen Vernon in 1940. By her first husband she had two sons, Patrick and Christopher Filmer-Sankey, the younger dying in her lifetime. Her child by her second husband died young. Lady Ursula's descendants by her first husband are the sole descendants of the 2nd Duke. They reside in the UK, Australia and Sweden.
Edward George Hugh Grosvenor, Earl Grosvenor (1904 – 1909)[1], who died aged 5, after an operation for appendicitis.
He married, fourthly, Anne (Nancy) Winifred Sullivan (1915-2003), on 7 February1947. Anne, Duchess of Westminster outlived her husband by fifty years[1]. She was the owner of Arkle, the champion racehorse, who won the Cheltenham Gold Cup three times in the 1960s.
The Duke died in 1953, aged 74, leaving surviving issue two daughters. His titles and the entailed Westminster estate passed to his cousin, William Grosvenor, and thence to the two sons of his youngest half-uncle Lord Hugh Grosvenor (killed in action 1914). The title is now held by the 6th Duke, who was born in the 2nd Duke's lifetime.
^ Violet, Duchess of Westminster had issue, two sons. Her elder son by her first marriage, Michael Rowley (d. 1952), married Lady Sibell Lygon, a niece of his mother's second husband, on 11 February 1939.
