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When the Prime Minister Jean Chrétien's Office announced in late 1996 that Hilary Weston was going to be Ontario's next lieutenant governor, a lot of her naysayers in the press were asking what did she know about affairs of state? How could the wife of Canada's second wealthiest man possibly be a role model for anyone? To underscore her commitment to supporting young people, Weston established The Hilary M. Weston Foundation for Youth and donated her salary to support youth-related programs. Weston forged ahead through five successful years as lieutenant governor. "It opened so many doors that I would never have had open to me. I was not only informed at every level, but transformed by the experience," she explains to CBC in 2002.
Since her retirement as Lieutenant Governor, Hilary has devoted a significant proportion of her time, as well as her business and fashion expertise, to Selfridges, the London department store of which she is a director. Mrs. Weston has spearheaded the most successful fundraising campaign in Canadian cultural history, which raised more than $250 million for the Royal Ontario Museum.
In 1979, Weston founded the Ireland Fund of Canada, a non-partisan, non-denominational organization that funds community projects in Ireland to promote peace. She continues to serve as an honorary patron of the organization. An interest in early childhood education led Weston to focus on issues related to women, volunteerism, and young people, and as mentors to at-risk youth. She also serves as founding chair of the Mabin School in Toronto.
A woman known to be one of the most elegant, beautiful, wealthy and has impeccable taste in Canada. Her husband, grocery store magnate Galen Weston, are friends of the Royal Family, and they are the closest thing Canada has to royalty of its own. Born just outside Dublin in 1942, Weston was the eldest of five children of a middle-class appliance salesman. She was the family's Cinderella, beautiful and clearly destined for greatness. Her father died just before she became one of Ireland's top fashion models - her face on every billboard and magazine cover. Then her mother developed multiple sclerosis, and Weston became the surrogate parent to the rest of the children.
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It was a heavy burden to shoulder, a burden made easier by the arrival of her own Prince Charming, Canadian Galen Weston, who had come to Ireland to start a chain of self-service supermarkets - Quinnsworth, spotted the 18-year-old Hilary on a billboard in hot pants. They were married after three years of courtship, and Galen expanded his business empires on both sides of the Atlantic, moving easily from millionaire to billionaire status. But success also made them the target of a violent kidnap attempt by the IRA in 1983. It was foiled by a tip to the police, but still resulted in a machine gun battle that left four gunmen seriously wounded. After the IRA kidnap attempt, they moved permanently to Canada.
Galen Weston is the son of Willard Garfield Weston, who served as a Member of Parliament in the British House of Commons during World War II, and grandson to founder George Weston of George Weston Bakeries, Galen's grandfather was a bread salesman in 1882, who went into business for himself in Toronto. Two years later, with his business prospering, he bought out the bakery of his former employer. Years later, George Weston recalled those early days: "I baked 250 loaves the first day. I delivered them — drove my own wagon — called on every customer myself." Today, George Weston Limited is one of north America’s largest food processors, and Loblaw, one of its subsidiaries, is Canada’s biggest grocery chain, where his 37-year-old son, Galen Jr is the current executive chairman and spokesperson for Loblaw's President's Choice brand.
The Weston family has a multi-faceted business empire with controlling stake in Loblaw, Holt Renfrew, Brown Thomas, Associated British Foods, Heals and Fortnum & Mason - Queen Elizabeth's grocer. In 2001, Wittington Investments, the Westons’ private investment firm, headed by chairman, Guy Weston, (Galen’s nephew) a third-generation Weston, made a £57.8m offer to take Fortum & Mason, the London department store private. The Piccadilly-based Fortum & Mason has been run by the Weston clan since Garfield Weston – the philanthropic Canadian who introduced sliced bread to Britain – bought it in the Fifties. Jana Khayat, his granddaughter, succeeded her father, Garry, (Galen’s older brother) as chairman after a stroke forced him to retire in 2001.
In March 2002, just as Hilary's term as lieutenant governor was ending, Galen Weston entered a fierce bidding war for England's department store chain Selfridges. Through Whittington Investments, Weston made several bids and counterbids. On May 12, 2002, Selfridges' management supported Weston's $958 million bid for the company, which was 60 percent above the company's stock value on April 8, 2002, and in July Selfridges' stockholders approved the sale to Weston. Selfridges brought with it a booming business, a huge London store, and a 250-bedroom hotel. Only $5 million of the purchase price came from Weston's own funds; the Royal Bank of Canada loaned the rest.
Galena Weston and Galen Weston Jr
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The Westons are one of the richest family in Canada, with a net worth of C$6.47 billion as of 2009 (Canadian Business). Both are avid art enthusiasts and philanthropists. They have homes in Toronto; Vero Beach, Florida - where they own a very exclusive housing development; and Windsor, England, where they live in Fort Belvedere, once the home of Edward VIII.
(Source: canadianbusiness.com; cbc.ca; referenceforbusiness.com; timesonline.co.uk; torontolife.com; wikipedia; encyclopediecanadienne.ca)
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