Henry Conyngham, 8th Marquess Conyngham

Henry Vivien Pierpont Conyngham, 8th Marquess Conyngham (born 25 May 1951),^[1] is an Anglo-Irish nobleman who holds a title in the Peerage of Ireland. Styled Viscount Slane until 1974 and Earl of Mount Charles from 1974 until 2009, he succeeded his father in the marquessate in March 2009, although in the Republic of Ireland he is often (and erroneously) still referred to as 'Lord Mountcharles', his former courtesy title when he rose to prominence. He also holds the title Baron Minster, of Minster Abbey in the County of Kent, in the Peerage of the United Kingdom, a title possessed by Marquesses of Slane since 1821 and which until 1999 gave them a seat in the British House of Lords.

The Marquess Conyngham has a high profile in Ireland as the author of a weekly column in the Irish Daily Mirror. He is often termed 'the rock and roll aristocrat' or 'the rock and roll peer' owing to the very successful series of rock concerts he has hosted since 1981, held in the natural amphitheater in the grounds of Slane Castle. The concerts have included performances by The Rolling Stones, Thin Lizzy, Queen, U2, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, David Bowie, Guns N' Roses, Oasis and Madonna. Lord Conyngham received the Industry Award at the 2010 Meteor Awards.^[2] In his autobiography Public Space–Private Life: A Decade at Slane Castle, he described his business career and the challenges of being an Anglo-Irish peer in modern Ireland, and how being Anglo-Irish has gradually become more accepted there.

Conyngham is the son of Frederick Conyngham, 7th Marquess Conyngham (1924-2009) and his wife, Eileen Wren Newsom. He was educated at Harrow School and Harvard University. He had three children with his first wife, Juliet Ann Kitson:

• Alexander Burton "Alex" Conyngham, Earl of Mount Charles (born 30 January 1975), who is married to a granddaughter of The 4th Baron Terrington (died 1998), and has a daughter and two sons:
  • Rory Nicholas Burton Conyngham, Viscount Slane (born 2010)
  • The Hon. Caspar Conyngham (born 2012)^[3][4]
• Henrietta Tamara Juliet Anson, Countess of Lichfield (born 1976), who is married to Thomas Anson, 6th Earl of Lichfield (son and heir of the famous photographer)^[5]
• Wolfe Conyngham

Conyngham and Juliet divorced. He remarried in 1985 to Lady Iona Charlotte Grimston (b. 1953), youngest daughter of John Grimston, 6th Earl of Verulam, by whom he has a daughter:

• Lady Tamara Jane Conyngham (born 1991)^[6]

In 1992, when he held the courtesy title Earl of Mount Charles, he ran an unsuccessful election campaign to win a seat for the Fine Gael party in Louth. He stood for Seanad Éireann in 1997 for Trinity College, Dublin, and as a Fine Gael candidate for a European Parliament seat in 2004. Lord Conyngham lives both at Beauparc House in County Meath and at Slane Castle, the ancestral home which was badly damaged by fire in 1992, but which has since been restored.

Ancestry

References

Sources

• Public Space-Private Life: A Decade at Slane Castle, September 1989, Faber & Faber

External Links

• Henry Conyngham, 8th Marquess Conyngham

Marquesses in the peerages of the British Isles* England Winchester Scotland Huntly Queensberry Tweeddale Lothian Ireland Conyngham Londonderry Sligo Donegall Headfort Waterford Downshire Great Britain Lansdowne Townshend Salisbury Bath Hertford Bute United Kingdom Cholmondeley** Ely Exeter Northampton Camden Anglesey Ailesbury Bristol Ailsa Normanby Abergavenny Zetland Linlithgow Aberdeen and Temair Milford Haven Reading *Current substantive marquesses, listed by precedence. **Cholmondeley ranks as Lord Great Chamberlain.