The professor clasped his hands behind his back and began pacing in front of the desk where the boy was sitting.
"Your great-great-grandfather, the first Duke of Westminster, received a vast land grant along with his title. Like all aristocrats of his rank, he lived off the rent from his lands. However, unlike most other dukes, he chose to invest his profits in acquiring additional land and constructing buildings, which he then leased out. His children continued this tradition."
Richie listened intently, hanging on the lecturer's every word. The professor continued to pace back and forth as he spoke.
"Subsequent generations of the Grosvenor family maintained this strategy of investing in land purchases and construction. Your grandfather, Charles, was particularly active in this regard. He began acquiring land not only in Great Britain, but also in Canada, the United States, Australia, and other countries. Perhaps he made the single greatest contribution to the growth of the Grosvenors' financial power. In the 1950s and 1960s, your family was wealthier than the royal family."
The professor changed direction and began walking in a slow circle between the desk and the blackboard. He continued his story.
"In the 1950s, the numerous children of the fifth Duke of Westminster—your grandfather Charles—began leading dissolute lifestyles. They spent outrageous sums of money on all kinds of nonsense. This seriously threatened to ruin the family."
Richie held his breath. His eyes shone with genuine curiosity.
"During his lifetime, Charles Grosvenor managed to restrain his children's urge to squander the family fortune," the professor went on. "But he understood perfectly well that after his death, everything his ancestors—and he himself—had built could be wasted. Therefore, he decided to follow the example of the Rothschilds and establish a trust fund."
Richie tried to recall what a trust fund was, but nothing came to mind. In the end, he decided to ask directly.
"Sir… a trust fund—what is that?"
"Oh?" The professor paused and shook his head with mild disapproval, casting a reproachful glance at the boy. "I was just beginning to think, Richard, that you had finally come to your senses. A trust fund is a system in which property originally owned by the founder is transferred into a trust, while the income generated by that property is paid to designated beneficiaries."
"So Grandpa transferred our property into a trust fund?" Richie asked.
"Yes," the professor nodded. "In the late 1950s, the Grosvenors placed their assets into several trust funds to ensure that the property would not be squandered by heirs, ex-wives, or other black sheep of the family."
Moving away from the blackboard, the professor approached his desk and rested his hands on its surface.
"This strategy allows the Grosvenors to make a profit. However, it also means that if you, Richard, were to inherit and suddenly decide to sell even a small piece of property—say, a shopping center in the heart of London—you would be unable to do so without the approval of the board of trustees. There are currently seven trustees, including the sixth Duke of Westminster—your father. The chairman of the board is Mark Preston: an excellent economist, a nobleman, an honest man, and a strong manager."
"Wait," Richie interrupted, his eyes widening. "Does that mean I can't spend my own money without the trustees' approval?"
"No, you can spend your money," the professor replied calmly. "You will receive a substantial quarterly payment from the trust's income—millions of pounds, in fact. But you cannot sell the property itself. And, for example, if you were to marry a gold digger and later divorce her, and your wife sued for part of your property, she still wouldn't be able to sell it. Although, as far as I know, the Grosvenors have always used prenuptial agreements, according to which a spouse cannot claim the husband's property in the event of a divorce. At most—as in the case of your father's ex-wife—the children may receive annual payments from the trust fund."
"My father has an ex-wife… and other children?" Richie asked, startled.
"Hmm…" the professor drawled thoughtfully. He had no insight into the inner workings of the duke's family, so he did not consider the boy's question strange. "As far as publicly available information goes, Richard, you have two older sisters from your father's first marriage. The younger of the two is around twenty years old. Both receive an allowance, the exact amount of which is not disclosed, and these payments will continue for the rest of their lives. The allowance will likely be inherited by their children, probably in equal shares, unless your father decides otherwise—since by law, he is only required to support his children until they reach the age of eighteen. I do not know the exact contents of your father's will."
"In addition to your sisters, other members of the Grosvenor family receive payments from the trust fund—your father's brothers and sisters, as well as their children. It is also possible that more distant relatives, such as the children of Charles Grosvenor's siblings, receive some form of payment. As the future seventh Duke of Westminster, you will inherit the entire Grosvenor estate and receive the largest share of the trust's income."
"How large is this estate?" Richie asked. "You mentioned land and a shopping center in London."
"As far as I know, it includes more than a thousand properties across sixty countries," the professor replied. "Richard, you understand that I can't give you exact figures—only someone on the Grosvenor Group's board of trustees, such as your father, could do that. But I do know for certain that almost all the real estate in central London and Liverpool belongs to your family. For example, the Mayfair district, including the U.S. Embassy, the Beaumont Hotel, numerous art galleries, and museums. Your family also owns about forty thousand hectares of land in Scotland, nearly all of Silicon Valley, thirty thousand hectares in Spain, and much more besides."
Richie let out a low whistle and exclaimed, "Wow! Damn, I'm insanely rich! And maybe some country, you know, just by chance, doesn't happen to belong to our family?!"
"If there is," the professor said with a quiet chuckle, watching the boy's reaction, "I'm not aware of it."
After that, the professor continued with a lecture on economics and assigned Richie his homework.