The generalized trace ratio problem {\rm (GTRP)} is to maximize a quadratic fractional objective function in trace formulation over the Stiefel manifold. In this paper, based on a newly developed matrix S-lemma, we show that {\rm (GTRP)}, if a redundant constraint is added and well scaled, has zero Lagrangian duality gap. However, this is not always true without the technique of scaling or adding the redundant constraint.