Conor O'Brien, 18th Baron Inchiquin

He is the son of the Hon. Fionn Myles Maryons O'Brien (28 October 1903 – 2 August 1977) and Josephine Reine O'Brien née Bembaron (circa 1913-27 October 2011).[2] Fionn was the son of Lucius William O'Brien, 15th Baron of Inchiquin and Ethel Jane Foster. O'Brien was educated at Eton College.[2]

O'Brien commissioned into the 14th/20th Kings Hussars of the British Army in 1963. He served as a troop commander in Benghazi, Tripoli, Cyprus on Operation Tosca, Tidworth, Paderborn (as assistant adjutant), Singapore, and Tidworth as adjutant of the regiment. He became Aide-de-Camp to Commander British Forces Gulf in Bahrain and left the army in 1975, retiring with the rank of Captain.[2]

O'Brien worked in the Far East for a number of years, running his own company, specialising in the manufacture of board games including backgammon, chess and mahjong in Hong Kong. O'Brien then worked for Inter Alpha Asia Bank (Hong Kong) between 1979 and 1981 and before he finally left the Far East, set up offices on behalf of London estate agents, Farrar Stead and Glynn.[3]

Although the ancestral seat of Dromoland Castle has since left family hands O'Brien has continued to run the lands left on the estate in family hands. O'Brien ran an exclusive guest house in the new family home, Thomond House, adjacent to the former seat, from 1984 until 2008. O'Brien also turned the residual Dromoland Estate into a sporting and leisure venue. In April 2010, he was awarded €7.9m in damages by the High Court over the repudiation of an agreement to buy 377 acres out of the 600 acres of the Dromoland estate which his family still owned.[4] In 2012, in a long running dispute with the management of Dromoland Castle, O'Brien was refused an initial application to the High Court for them to immediately return 37 paintings that were loaned several decades prior; the hotel wanted to copy the paintings and then return them, possibly on a phased basis.[5][6][7]

As Baron Inchiquin O'Brien serves as Chief of the Dál gCais tribe and nominal head of the O'Brien Dynasty. O'Brien is responsible for the formation of the O’Brien Clan Foundation and the first clan gathering for 400 years in 1992. In 2002 another clan gathering was arranged to commemorate the 1000th Anniversary of the accession of Brian Boru to the throne of Ireland, and in 2014, the Millennium of his death at the Battle of Clontarf in 1014.[3] In 1998, he visited Antioch, California for St. Patrick's Day and Antioch's first St. Patrick's Day Crinniu, hosted by then-Councilman Allen Payton and the city's council proclaimed "Sir Conor O'Brien Day".[8]

Dromoland Castle, the former ancestral seat.

O'Brien has also served as Chairman of the Standing Council of Irish Chiefs and Chieftains.[2]

O'Brien succeeded to the peerage on the death of his uncle, Phaedrig O'Brien, 17th Baron Inchiquin, in 1982.[9][10]

O'Brien has one a sister, Fiona Jane O'Brien who married Romano Louis Marie Joseph Ghislain Obert de Thieusies, son of Alain Martel Marie Joseph Ghislain Obert de Thieusies, Vicomte Obert de Thieusies, in 1975.[2]

He himself married Helen O'Farrell, daughter of Gerald Fitzgerald O'Farrell, in 1988, and together they have two children:[2]

• The Hon. Slaney Alexandra Anne O'Brien b. 7 Jul 1989
• The Hon. Lucia Josephine Mary O'Brien b. 27 May 1991

The family seat of Dromoland Castle was sold after Donough O'Brien, 16th Baron Inchiquin was forced to sell a large part of the estate (c. 350 acres) to billionaire industrialist Bernard McDonough. The castle today functions as a luxury hotel and is owned by a number of Irish-American businessmen.[11][12]

The 16th Baron built a smaller residence adjacent to the estate, Thomond House, which he moved into in 1965. Conor O'Brien continues to reside in Thomond House.[2]