Downton Abbey creator Julian Fellows’ new drama Belgravia premiered last week on ITV, following the lives of families living in London’s upmarket Belgravia in the 1840s.
But society bible Tatler imagined what the TV drama might look like if it was re-cast with real-life aristocrats, heirs and billionaires who call the plush London neighbourhood home today.
Among their number is the Duke of Westminster, the billionaire godfather of future king Prince George, and his two aunts, Leonora, Countess of Lichfield and Lady Jane Dawnay, as well as society publisher Bea Vincenzini, 49.
Also to be seen on the streets are Philip Treacy, milliner to the Duchess of Cambridge and Meghan Markle, whose studio is located in Belgravia, and celebrity interior designer Nicola Fontanella, whose clients include Madonna and Naomi Campbell.
Here FEMAIL takes a look at the current inhabitants of ‘Billionaire Square’.
THE SOCIETY PUBLISHER
Bea Vincenzini
All-out glamour: Bea Vincenzini, 49, is a publisher who calls Belgravia home. Pictured, the society beauty poses in a designer frock on a holiday in Italy last summer
Family time: Beatrice poses for a photo with her teenage daughter in Paris. The snap is one of many shared by Beatrice, known as Bea, on her popular Instagram account
Well-connected: Bea with Valentino, centre, and Princess Olympia of Greece, right, at a glamorous event last summer. Bea travels the world rubbing shoulders with the world’s elite
Recently named as one of Tatler’s most eligible divorcees, glamorous publisher Bea Vincenzini, 49, MD of Vendome books, also calls Belgravia home.
Bea, and her City slicker ex-husband Hugh Warrender made headlines with their ultimate three-day society wedding in 2000.
The couple enjoyed 13 years together – and welcomed a daughter, India – before splitting in 2013.
Now Beatrice, who counts legendary designer Valentino among her close friends, enjoys criss-crossing the world with her stunning teenage daughter – and sharing snaps of her jet-set travels on Instagram
GLAMOROUS DINING DUO
Jemima Jones and Lucy Carr-Ellison
Queens of catering: Society caterers and business partners Jemima Jones (left) and Lucy Carr-Ellison (right) can be found whipping up delicious yet healthy meals at their Belgravia outpost Wild By Tart, which hosted Lady Gabriella Windsor’s wedding reception last year
Sister-in-law: Jemima is the wife of financier Ben Goldsmith. Pictured, Jemima with Ben’s sister Jemima Goldsmith, right, at the wedding of Gabriella Windsor at Windsor Castle in May 2019
Society caterers and business partners Jemima Jones and Lucy Carr-Ellison can be found whipping up delicious yet healthy meals at their Belgravia outpost Wild By Tart, which served as the venue for Lady Gabriella Windsor’s star-studded wedding reception last year.
Jemima is the wife of financier Ben Goldsmith, who last year experienced unimaginable heartbreak when his teenage daughter Iris was killed in a tragic accident on their family farm in Somerset.
Ben is the son of late billionaire tycoon Sir James Goldsmith and younger brother of Environment Minister Lord (Zac) Goldsmith and television producer Jemima Goldsmith. His mother, Lady Annabel, inspired the name of legendary Mayfair nightclub Annabel’s.
Iris was one of three children from Ben’s first marriage, to banking heiress Kate Rothschild. They have two sons: Frank, 14, and Isaac, 11.
Former model Jemima is expecting her third child with Ben this May. The couple have a three-year-old daughter, Eliza, and a son, Arlo, aged two.
Meanwhile Lucy Carr-Ellison recently announced her engagement to dashing beau Tom Asquith, who describes himself as a location scout and shirt maker.
Lucy shared the happy news on Instagram last month after Tom popped the question on holiday in the Philippines.
THE BILLIONAIRE DUKE
Hugh, 7th Duke of Westminster
King of Westminster: Although he is just 29 years old, Hugh Grosvenor, the 7th Duke of Westminster, pictured, and his family are worth an estimated £10.1 billion, according to the Sunday Times Wish List, making him the richest person in the world under 30
Billionaire’s square! Although he is just 29 years old, Hugh Grosvenor, the 7th Duke of Westminster, is in many ways the king of Belgravia. For it was his ancestor, Richard Grosvenor, the 2nd Marquis of Westminster, who in the 1820s first developed the area into the well-heeled London neighbourhood it has become. Pictured, Belgravia from above
Although he is just 29 years old, Hugh Grosvenor, the 7th Duke of Westminster, is in many ways the king of Belgravia.
For it was his ancestor, Richard Grosvenor, the 2nd Marquis of Westminster, who in the 1820s first developed the area into the well-heeled London neighbourhood it has become.
Indeed Belgravia takes its name from one of the Duke of Westminster’s subsidiary titles, Viscount Belgrave, which in itself is derived from the Cheshire village of Belgrave, some two miles from the Grosvenor family seat of Eaton Hall.
The untimely death of his father in 2016 meant Hugh, formerly the Earl of Grosvenor, inherited the title, family seat and the reigns of the family’s Grosvenor Group when he was in his mid-20s.
However unlike many young aristocrats, Hugh remains largely under the radar. This is some feat given that, together with his family, he is worth an estimated £10.1 billion, according to the Sunday Times Wish List, making him the richest person in the world under 30.
As might be expected, the Duke of Westminster also has impeccable social connections: he is godfather to future king Prince George, six, and is a close friend of Prince William and Harry’s pal, Charlie van Straubenzee.
HIS ELEGANT AUNTS
Leonora, Countess of Lichfield and Lady Jane Dawnay
Family ties: The Duke of Westminster is not the only Grosvenor to be spotted on the streets of Belgravia. So too are his aunts, Leonora, Countess of Lichfield and Lady Jane Dawnay, pictured
The Duke of Westminster is not the only Grosvenor to be spotted on the streets of Belgravia. So too are his aunts, Leonora, Countess of Lichfield, 71, and Lady Jane Dawnay.
Hugh’s aunt Leonora is the older sister of his father, Gerald, the 6th Duke of Westminster, and the eldest daughter of Robert, the late 5th Duke of Westminster. In 1975, she married the Patrick Anson, 5th Earl of Lichfield, whom she first met when he photographed her as debutante of the year in 1967.
The couple had three children, Lady Rose, Lady Eloise and Thomas, 6th Earl of Lichfield, before divorcing in 1986.
Since 1979, the Countess has been an extra lady-in-waiting to Princess Anne.
Lady Jane Dawnay, the younger sister of Leonora and Gerald, is the former wife of Guy Innes-Ker, the late 10th Duke of Roxburghe. She later married Edward William Dawnay.
Lady Jane is godmother to Princess Beatrice and so is expected to attend the upcoming royal wedding, whenever it takes place.
INTERIOR DESIGNER TO THE STARS
Nicola Fontanella
Celebrity clients: Nicola Fontanella has reportedly worked with Madonna and Naomi Campbell
Interior designer Nicola Fontanella, of Argent Design, counts stars including Madonna and Naomi Campbell among her clients and has been behind a number of big-budget makeovers to prime London properties
According to Tatler, Fontanella moved into Belgravia 20 years ago and has previously described the area as a ‘village’, telling The Times in an interview: ‘I know the butcher, the dry-cleaner, the hairdresser.’
ROYAL MILLINER
Philip Treacy
Hats off to him! Irish milliner Philip Treacy, pictured, is based in upmarket Belgravia
Royal favourite: A total of 36 Treacy hats were worn to the wedding of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge in April 2011, including the controversial ‘pretzel’ fascinator donned by Princess Beatrice (left). Right, the Duchess of Sussex in Philip Treacy at Trooping the Colour 2018
Everyone who’s anyone has had a hat specially designed for them by milliner Philip Treacy, whose business is based in Belgravia.
Undoubtedly his most famous clients are the British Royal Family.
A total of 36 Treacy hats were worn to the wedding of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge in April 2011, including the controversial ‘pretzel’ fascinator donned by Princess Beatrice.
At the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle there were more than 20 hats, including those worn by the Duchess of Cornwall, the Duchess of Cambridge and Oprah Winfrey.
Treacy also counts the Duchess of Sussex among his previous clients, with Meghan choosing a Treacy hat for her first Christmas at Sandringham in 2017.
EARL AND COUNTESS DE LA WARR
William Herbrand Sackville, 11th Earl De La Warr, and his wife Anne, Countess De La Warr
Day at the races: Countess De La Warr with the late John Spencer-Churchill (second from left), 11th Duke of Marlborough, David Ker (behind) and the Earl De La Warr (right) at Ascot in 2012
Old Etonian William Herbrand Sackville, 11th Earl De La Warr, and his wife Anne, granddaughter of Admiral Sir Arthur Cavenagh Leveson, own a pad in Belgravia, although they are thought to spend the majority of their time on the family estate at Buckhurst Park, Sussex.
The Grade II listed building has been in the Sackville family for 900 years and is now a wedding venue as well as a working farm, where the couple raise livestock. The Countess is also the owner of a South Park Stud which breeds pedigreed Shetland ponies on the grounds.
When in London, Earl De La Warr spends his times at a string of private gentlemen’s clubs, of which he is a member, including White’s, the Turf Club, and Pratt’s.
Countess De La Warr has two sons with her previous husband, Adrian John Charles Hope, 4th Marquess of Linlithgow, and two sons with Earl De La Warr.
History of Belgravia and Belgrave Square Gardens
A Google Earth aerial shot of Belgravia Square in central London, which dates back to the early 1800s
Belgravia was developed in the 1820s by Richard Grosvenor, the 2nd Marquis of Westminster, and takes its name from one of the Duke of Westminster’s subsidiary titles – Viscount Belgrave.
The village of Belgrave in Cheshire is two miles from the Grosvenor family’s main countryseat of Eaton Hall.
It was designed at the order of the 2nd Marquis of Westminster by London architect Thomas Cubitt – and there is now a gastro pub on Elizabeth Street named after him in the area.
Map of Belgravia circa 1814 – now one of the wealthiest districts in the world
Belgrave Square Gardens was designed by English architect George Basevi and planted by Thomas Cubitt in 1826. They feature a tennis court and a children’s playground as well as a ‘quiet area’.
It was previously known as Five Fields – a swampy marshland situated between Hyde Park and the Thames, which ironically used to be home to thieves and bandits.
The Grosvenors were inspired to develop it in the wake of the Napoleonic Wars and the conversion of Buckingham House into a palace for George IV.
In 1874, a five-storey building called the Pantechnicon, which occupied almost two acres in Motcomb Street in the middle of Belgravia, went up in flames.
In 1874, a five-storey building called the Pantechnicon, which occupied almost two acres in Motcomb Street in the middle of Belgravia, burnt down
The cause of the fire was never established, but the Pantechnicon fire focused public attention on urban fires and how to prevent and contain them
It was built in a similar in style to museums such as the National Gallery in Trafalgar Square, and was originally conceived as a bazaar with stalls selling artwork before it became a storage facility for carriages and a warehouse where wealthy Londoners stored their valuables.
It was branded ‘the largest, the safest, and the most fireproof warehouse in the metropolis’ – and the blaze has been billed the largest episode of destruction of art and furnishings in the Victorian era.
It took almost all the fire engines in London and troopers from the nearby Chelsea barracks as well as members of the Salvage Corps to bring the fire under control.
The cause of the fire was never established, but the Pantechnicon fire focused public attention on urban fires and how to prevent and contain them.
Large swathes of Belgravia is still owned by the family-operated property company Grosvenor Group – with the Duke of Westminster as its figurehead.
The opulent rows of white villas and townhouses which inhabit Belgravia were initially owned by members of the aristocracy – but following the Second World War, the make-up of it changed significantly.
The Sunday Trading Riots of 1855 in Belgravia
More embassies and institutions moved to the area, and Belgrave Square is now noted as a popular spot for embassies.
During WWII, Belgrave Square was used as a tank park. Three bombs were dropped on the square during the Blitx, with Eaton Square suffering nine direct hits.
Now it is among the most expensive areas in the world to live in, with average property prices in the region of £3.4milion – with some houses worth up to £60million.
Many of the square’s grand mansions have been bought by foreign multi-millionaires, including some whose wealth is so outrageously vast they are listed as billionaires.
Belgravia is within a conservation area and a great deal of its properties and buildings, some of which are embassies, are listed.
This gives them protected status and will ensure the character and appearance of Belgravia’s heritage and architecture is preserved.