Jenico Preston, 17th Viscount Gormanston

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Jenico Nicholas Dudley Preston, 17th Viscount Gormanston (born 19 November 1939), is the only son of Jenico William Preston, 16th Viscount Gormanston (1914-1940) and Pamela Hanly, daughter of Captain Edward Hanly and Lady Marjorie Feilding. A Roman Catholic Anglo-Irish aristocrat, he is the premier Viscount of Ireland. Like his forebears, Lord Gormanston attended the Benedictine academy at Downside Abbey. His Great-grandfather was Sir William Francis Butler of Bansha Castle, County Tipperary and his Great-grandmother was the celebrated Victorian artist, Elizabeth Thompson aka Lady Elizabeth Butler.

He succeeded to the title before his first birthday, when his father died in action at Dunkirk during the Battle of France, 1940. He is a connoisseur of art and lives in Kensington, London. His ancestral seat is Gormanston Castle, County Meath in Ireland which is an impressive and handsome pile, though no longer in the family's possesion. The castle is fully maintained by the Franciscan Order of Priests who bought it circa 1950. Since a prestigious boarding school for boys, Franciscan College, Gormanston was established in the adjacent grounds, it continues to be a vibrant place steeped in history.

[edit] Personal life

He has been married twice:

1) Eva Antonie Landzianowska (1974- widowed 1984); (two sons)
- The Honourable Jenico Francis Tara Preston (born April 30, 1974).
- The Honourable William Luke Preston (born May 3, 1976).