Friday, January 12, 2018

Why the US does not own its Grosvenor Square embassy

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This Donald Trump tweet contains an extraordinary density of lies even for him:
The decision to move to a newly built embassy south of the Thames was taken in 2008 when George W. Bush was President.

And he didn't sell the Grosvenor Square building, because it is the only US embassy in the world that is not owned by the US government.

londinoupolis explains this anomaly. He says the Americans:
asked the Duke of Westminster, who owned Grosvenor Square, how much they would have to pay to buy the freehold of the land.  However, what they did not know is that the Grosvenor family never sell. 
Their vast wealth is based precisely on this simple fact; they own their 300 acres of central London including most of Belgravia and Mayfair, not to mention land holdings all over the world. All the houses and offices on this land are leased; their freeholds are never sold. 
When the Americans were told the news, they insisted that that was unacceptable, therefore petitioning to Parliament in order to force the Duke to sell. Nevertheless the Grosvenor family did not comply with any pressure.
The Duke did suggest a deal whereby the lands his ancestors lost in America at the time of Independence should be returned to him in return for the freehold of the Grosvenor Square site.

As those lands consisted of most of Maine and New York, his offer was declined

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