Prince William's Friend, Duke of Westminster: Richest Man Under 30 Donates £12.5 M to NHS

Billionaire Duke of Westminster has pledged £12.5 million to contribute to the National Health Service in its battle against COVID-19.

Landowner Hugh Grosvenor, 29, is named as the richest person under the age of 30 in the world. His estimated worth is £10.1 billion.

He has now personally provided £10 million after donating earlier £2.5 million in March to the national novel coronavirus relief effort.

Prince George's godfather's donation will support the health service, in providing respite, recovery, and mental health aid to the NHS staff and their families.

Aside from supporting NHS, it will contribute to medical research and development, and charities helping Britain's long-term recovery from the coronavirus pandemic.

His initial donation of £2.5 million went mainly to charities providing vital food distribution to vulnerable families.

He had inherited the Duke of Westminster title in August 2016 after his father's death, Gerald Grosvenor. The Newcastle University graduate is also a close friend of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, and he is godfather to 6-year-old Prince George.

The £10m is largely to express gratitude to the NHS staff for tireless work.

"I want to say a huge thank you to all our amazing NHS staff and everyone providing critical frontline services," Grosvenor said.

For the Westminster Foundation, the money allocated to it will be used to support efforts for long-term rehabilitation from the coronavirus outbreak. Meanwhile, 5 million pounds will be provided to NHS Charities Together. The money will be used to develop a "Family Fund" for NHS workers and their families as they continue to risk their lives assisting the general public during the crisis.

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According to the NHS Charities Together fund, it was "incredibly grateful for this most generous donation." However, some politicians and inequality campaigners noted that the gift equates to merely 0.1% of the duke's inherited wealth.

Grosvenor owns 100 acres of Mayfair, 200 acres of Belgravia, and his family's sprawling estate in Cheshire.

This new pledge entitles him now as the biggest donor in the U.K, surpassing a host of celebrities who made donations including James McAvoy and the Clooneys.

He added, "We are all humbled and incredibly grateful that you are working tirelessly to keep us safe and keep the country functioning."

"NHS staff and key workers don't work in isolation. They have children and families whose health and well-being will also be highly impacted by this crisis."

A key priority for the duke's own charitable foundation is helping families and young people. Thus, he was keen to cooperate with NHS fundraisers to arrange the Family Fund.

The rest of the duke's £10m donation will be divided between scientific bodies and other charities helping families hard-hit by the virus.

Facebook founder, Mark Zuckerberg, has contributed $30 million to the coronavirus research from his estimated worth of $67 billion, while China's richest man, Jack Ma, has pledged $14m to provide for vaccine research from his $44 billion fortune.

According to Wanda Wyporska, executive director of the Equality Trust, "While any donation to the NHS at this time is to be welcomed, the billionaire duke could have made a transformative donation rather than scrabbling about down the back of a few of his sofas for some loose change."