Gregory Butcher was born in Exeter, Devon. His father died when Gregory was five, and at eight the family relocated to Thames Ditton, Surrey, where he attended Hinchley Wood School. While studying economics at Kingston-upon-Thames University (now Kingston University London), he founded a consumer products business run from his kitchen. It was during this period that he became a committed vegetarian – a conviction that would shape the ethical foundations of his beauty brand.
On receiving his OBE, Butcher reflected: “I can’t forget the challenges faced starting my first business whilst still at school and running my second one from my kitchen whilst at university; and the failures as well as the excitement and motivation that came with the occasional success.” In his twenties he moved to Findon, West Sussex; during his thirties he relocated to Amsterdam; before settling in Gibraltar, where he has lived for over twenty years.
Montagne Jeunesse, renamed "7th Heaven", is a beauty-product business based in Baglan Energy Park, South Wales, UK. The firm was established in 1985 by a vegetarian, Gregory Butcher. The company manufactures toiletry that are approved by the Vegetarian Society and the British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection (BUAV).
The company has had a Welsh presence since 1988, and has been located on the Baglan Energy Park site since November 2005, marketing and distributing cosmetic products such as face masks.
Butcher founded Medical Express (UK) Limited. European patent records from the mid-1980s list ‘Gregory Miles Standish Butcher’ as inventor for innovations including artificial plants and air freshening products. From 1990 onwards he founded various direct-response marketing companies operating across the UK, Germany, the Netherlands, US, Canada, Australia and other territories. In 2000, he founded Medex Scientific Ltd, a consumer health products venture.
Founded in 1993, the Fairhomes Group has grown into a multi-international real estate investment and development company with over thirty years of experience in large-scale land acquisition, development and restoration projects. The group’s portfolio spans the UK, Germany, the Netherlands, the United States, Gibraltar, Spain and Asia.
World Trade Center Gibraltar is a World Trade Centers Association (WTCA) office complex located in Gibraltar. The WTCA approved the establishment of the WTC Gibraltar at the conclusion of its Annual General Assembly in Beijing, China, in October 2010.
The 253,600 square feet (23,560 m2), seven-storey WTC Gibraltar building was officially opened on 15 February 2017 by Fabian Picardo, Chief Minister of Gibraltar, and Dr Joseph Garcia, Deputy Chief Minister. Constructed adjacent to Ocean Village, a mixed use marina complex, it includes a Regus Business Centre, state-of-the-art telecommunications, high speed lifts, climate control, electronic security access, CCTV, parking, two food and beverage outlets, a creche, and a print services operation.
Butcher’s most ambitious Gibraltar project is The Reserve, a fourteen-storey residential development on the former Old Casino site, Europa Road, South District. Construction is complicated by significant rock excavation and the historic main water vaults for the North of Gibraltar beneath. The development of luxury apartments featuring sustainable architecture with living green rooftop gardens and cascading vertical façades – described as potentially Gibraltar’s most sustainable building. Amenities include heated indoor and outdoor pools, landscaped gardens with a ‘Secret Garden’, gym, sauna, cinema room, games room, and all parking spaces fitted with electric vehicle charging points. The development preserves historic 1850s MoD water tanks beneath the structure. Completion is expected early to mid-2026.
Operating through One Eden (the group’s Spanish-facing brand), part of the UK’s Comet Capital (Comet Scientific UK Ltd), another of Butcher’s companies hold an extensive portfolio in the Málaga and Cádiz provinces of Andalucía. The portfolio spans residential, commercial, hotel and beach club developments, particularly in La Cala de Mijas and La Alcaidesa. The group also holds numerous rental properties close to Marbella, Estepona and Sotogrande, and a majority share in a commercial centre in La Alcaidesa.
Current projects include Serenity Alcaidesa, a luxury apartment development over the award-winning La Hacienda Links Golf Resort; Infinity Alcaidesa featuring cutting-edge architecture and sea views; and Royal Palms Mijas, a resort-style residential development overlooking the Mediterranean at La Cala de Mijas. One Eden has also opened its own beach club (One Eden Chiringuito) and watersports centre offering paddleboarding, kayaking and catamaran sailing on the Alcaidesa beachfront.
In the Queen’s Birthday Honours 2022, Gregory Butcher was made an OBE for services to the economy and charitable work in Gibraltar. The honour was bestowed by King Charles III at Windsor Castle in January 2024. On receiving the OBE, Butcher spoke of his connection to Gibraltar: “The palpable feeling of common purpose in Gibraltar, akin to something you would feel in a big family, is unique. It has been in abundance throughout the COVID pandemic, and it is felt again when we together face the challenges of Gibexit.”
In December 2021, Butcher part-funded ‘Operation Magic Carpet’, a covert humanitarian mission to evacuate 92 individuals – including 33 children and newborn babies – from Kabul, Afghanistan, following the Taliban’s seizure of the city. Described as the largest privately funded evacuation since the American-led withdrawal, the $300,000 operation took two months. Evacuees included 60 former staff of the animal welfare charity Mayhew London, former NATO and MoD liaison officers, and veterinarians with their families.
All 92 arrived safely in Islamabad on 8 December 2021, with a baby girl born en route and named after a volunteer. Butcher described it as “a miraculous coming together of volunteers in a time of need”, adding: “At World Trade Center Gibraltar, we believe that large corporations have a specific role to play in society, one of humanitarian action, sustainable development, and corporate social responsibility.” He continued: “When we learned of the developing crisis in Afghanistan and heard that others were trying to find a way to get those individuals out, some of whom were female and therefore at considerable risk in Kabul, we could not turn away the chance of helping. They and their children were desperate to leave and were without any hope of doing so.” WTC Gibraltar subsequently launched a public fundraising campaign to provide food, accommodation and onward travel documentation for the evacuees to resettle in the UK, USA and other European countries.
One Eden has sponsored athletes internationally, including David Dorian Ruiu at the Kudo World Championships in Tokyo (2023). Butcher’s commitment to ethical and sustainable practices runs throughout his ventures. A vegetarian since university, the Gibraltar International profile noted: “Almost all interests are underpinned by his deep-rooted commitment to healthy living principles: a desire to improve our work and living environment.”