Who are the Hensons? Meet Olivia Henson's aristocratic family, who ...

Olivia Henson is marrying into the illustrious Grosvenor family – but what about Hugh's new in-laws?

You’ve met the Grosvenors, now let Tatler introduce you to the Duke of Westminster’s new in-laws: say hello to the Hensons.

Much has been made of Hugh Grosvenor, 7th Duke of Westminster’s family heritage in the run-up to his wedding to Olivia Henson today. The Grosvenor dynasty dates back almost half a millennium, with links to the royal family, Russian aristocracy, and Alexander Pushkin.

But Olivia has a fair amount of aristocratic pedigree herself. Her father, who accompanied the bride to Chester Cathedral in a vintage Bentley this afternoon, is Rupert Cornelius Brooke Henson, a banker. Her mother, Caroline Henson, born Caroline Frisby, is a descendant of the Marquess of Bristol, who can trace her lineage back to a dynasty of her own – the Hoare banking family.

Caroline Henson arrives at Chester Cathedral alongside daughter Olivia's nieces – Isla van Cutsem, Orla Snow, and Zia Snow served as flower girls at the wedding

C. Hoare & Co is the UK’s oldest privately-owned bank, and the fourth oldest of its kind in the world. Founded in 1672 by Sir Richard Hoare, the banks’ clients are said to have included Samuel Pepys, John Dryden, and Jane Austen – who no doubt would have found much inspiration in the Duke of Westminster’s wedding today.

Caroline wore a powder blue dress and matching hat as she accompanied her daughter’s sister-in-law and bridesmaids into the Grade I listed Cathedral ahead of Olivia’s entrance. The Duke of Westminster’s new brother-in-law, Jasper Cornelius R. Henson was born in 1994, and Olivia’s sister, Emilia Rose Henson joined the family three years later in 1997. Emilia, who has previously featured in the pages of Tatler's Bystander, opted for a baby blue gown as she celebrated her sister’s wedding in Cheshire today.

Caroline and Rupert Henson are pictured with Natalia Grosvenor

It's not the only special celebration the family have coming in the next few months; Jasper was accompanied to the event by his fiancée Isabel Rodríguez-Legorburu. The couple's engagement was announced back in April in the Daily Telegraph, with a short notice reading, ‘The engagement is announced between Jasper, the only son of Mr. Rupert Henson, of Longworth, Oxfordshire, and Isabel, daughter of the Earls of Asmir, of Madrid, Spain.’

While the couple's wedding plans are yet unknown, Isabel was in attendance at the family event today, wearing a bright pink gown as she arrived with Caroline and Emilia. She is the daughter of Eduardo Rodríguez-Legorburu, Count of Asmir, a Spanish noble title held by Eduardo since 1966. It is unknown how the couple met, but they are believed to have crossed paths while working for Knight Frank Spain in Madrid.

There has been no sign yet of Caroline’s twin sister, Angela Frisby. Olivia’s aunt Angela is married to Charles Gordon, the 22nd of Hallhead and 11th of Esslemont who has served as Grand Master of Scottish freemasons.

Pictured: Emilia Henson in blue standing alongside her future sister-in-law Isabel Rodríguez-Legorburu

If she managed to find time to leaf through the history chronicles in the ancient Chester Cathedral library, Olivia Henson would find her lineage links her to the 5th Duke of Rutland, John Manners, making her a (somewhat distant) cousin of the Manners sisters, high-society scions Lady Violet, Lady Alice, and Lady Eliza.

The daughters of the 11th Duke and Duchess of Rutland, the Manners sisters are very well qualified if Olivia ever needs a quick refresher in aristocratic … well, manners. In 2017, Vanity Fair labelled them the ‘real-life Crawley sisters of London,’ and their family seat, 16,000-acre Belvoir Castle certainly lives up to the Downton Abbey reference.

And the Henson dynasty is about to expand. Considerably. When Olivia marries the Duke of Westminster, she marries into the Grosvenor family line – which stretches back through centuries of history. Hugh Grosvenor was thrust into his title aged just 25. This followed the untimely death of his father, the sixth Duke of Westminster, in 2016. The Duke benefitted from the ancient custom of primogeniture, meaning that he won priority over his older sisters because he was the male heir. Those sisters are Lady Tamara, who is married to Edward van Cutsem, a close friend of Prince William; and Lady Edwina, who is a prison reform campaigner and married to Dan Snow, the TV historian. The Duke also has a younger sister, Lady Viola, who runs an art therapy business.

The Grosvenor girls: Natalia Grosvenor, Dowager Duchess of Westminster, and her daughters, Lady Edwina Grosvenor, Lady Tamara Grosvenor and Lady Viola Grosvenor attend the wedding of The Duke of Westminster and Olivia Henson at Chester Cathedral

The Grosvenor fortune was in fact borne out of another marriage. In 1677, Sir Thomas Grosvenor was 21 when he took the hand of Mary Davies, 12, in what has proven a fantastic match for the Grosvenor family. Mary was the daughter of Alexander Davies, a scrivener, and had inherited substantial lands to the west of London from her great-uncle, Hugh Audley – a namesake of our present Hugh. (Hugh Audley was himself no stranger to a fortune. A famous moneylender, he became the subject of a popular 17th century pamphlet called The way to be rich according to the practice of the Great Audley.)

Audley’s ‘swampy meads’ to the west of the city have since become the Mayfair, Park Lane and Belgravia areas of London, priceless real estate and now the jewels in the crown of the Grosvenor fortune. Over three centuries later, the Grosvenor Group owns 300 acres of this prime central London territory, as well as Eaton Hall, and investments in more than 60 cities around the world, including a chunk of Silicon Valley in California.