“Lucky sperms count,” says Philip Beresford. “But most of those born with silver spoons in their mouths have also had the good sense to hand over the running of their properties to professionals.
The big London estates provide an object lesson to others in how to preserve wealth. The “old money” preserves the parts of London that the new rich wish to live. For both, it’s a virtuous circle.”
Certainly for the four old estates: the Grosvenor estate of the Duke of Westminster, pictured, Cadogan, Howard de Walden and Portman. Their 600 acres were worth a combined £4 billion in 2000. In the last year the total has risen by £1.3 billion to £14.2 billion. One new estate has been formed since then in central London. The 70-acre Soho Estate formed over 40 years by Paul Raymond, who died in 2008. An estate now worth £317 million, passed now to his grand-daughters, Fawn, 26, and her younger sister, India Rose James.
