Who is the Duke of Westminster's girlfriend, Harriet Tomlinson?
The world's most eligible bachelor is officially off the market. The Duke of Westminster, 26-year-old Hugh Grosvenor, has been photographed with his new girlfriend Harriet Tomlinson.
The news will doubtless devastate a generation of Tatlerites hoping to become acquainted with the Duke and his estimated £8.3 billion fortune (making him the third richest person in the UK and the 68th wealthiest in the world).
So just who is Harriet Tomlinson, and what do we know about her?
How old is she?
Tomlinson is, like the Duke, 26-years-old.
Who are her family?
Her father Grahame, 81, owned a curtain factory and the family live in Chester, near the Duke’s family estate Eaton Hall. The Tomlinson family home is said to have a value of £500,000.
Tomlinson has a younger sister Grace, 23, who is a marketing intern at GE capital UK in the business finance department. She is studying marketing at the University of the West of England, and also attended Ellesmere College with her sister, though she finished her schooling at Millfield School.
What does she do?
A consultant Deverell Smith agency - which has the tagline of ‘meet the right people’ - Tomlinson works on the Estate Agency desk. Her online bio on the firm’s website says she came in “via a circuitous” route, first working in the event industry as a venue finder, before inciting her interest in property and recruitment.
Where did she go to school?
Tomlinson studied at Ellesmere College, a co-ed independent boarding school in Shropshire, where she met the Duke of Westminster, Hugh Grosvenor. The £10,296-a-term college lists rugby player Bill Beaumont and Michael Chapman, the former Archdeacon of Northampton, as its former pupils.
Where did she go to university?
While the Duke went on to study countryside management at Newcastle University, and then Oxford, Tomlinson gained a bachelor degree in education at former polytechnic, the University of Wales in Cardiff. She went on to a postgraduate degree in events management with public relations, meeting and event planning at the University of College in 2013.
What did she do then?
After university, Tomlinson interned at Unspun, a political satire TV show, before gaining employment as a venue executive for AOK Events Ltd. For the last year and nine months, she has worked at Deverell Smith as a consultant.
What’s she like?
There is little information about her online, but it is said she is a keen runner, and that she and the Duke have “many shared interests.”
A source said: “Hugh and Harriet are blissfully happy. They have a lot of shared interests and are both very down to earth and family orientated. She’s a really lovely girl and very much the love of his life.”
Her former teacher Julian Salisbury has said on LinkedIn: “Harriet is very hard working and an intelligent person who always strives to reach high standards in everything she does.”
How long has she been with the Duke?
It is unclear, as the Duke is notoriously private, but the pair have apparently gone a string of romantic minibreaks, including to California where they stayed at the exclusive Ventana resort on the Big Sur coast.
