Henry Mountcharles

Henry Conyngham was born into an aristocratic family of Anglo-Irish descent, the eldest son of The 7th Marquess Conyngham (1924–2009) by his wife, Eileen Wren Newsom. He attended Harrow School before studying at Harvard University. Henry became known as the Earl of Mount Charles, a courtesy title, in 1974.

He succeeded his father in the Marquessate of Conyngham and other hereditary peerages in March 2009. However, in the Republic of Ireland, he is frequently referred to as 'Lord Mount Charles', his former courtesy title. He also inherited the title Baron Minster, of Minster Abbey in the County of Kent, created in 1821 in the Peerage of the United Kingdom for his ancestor, The 1st Marquess Conyngham, thereby giving the Marquesses Conyngham the automatic right to sit in the British House of Lords (until 1999).

The then Lord Mount Charles unsuccessfully contested the Louth constituency for Fine Gael at the 1992 general election.[3] In 1997, Lord Mount Charles stood for election to Seanad Éireann for the University of Dublin, again without success.[3] At the 2004 European Parliament election, he was approached by Fine Gael to enter the contest for selection as a Fine Gael candidate for the East constituency.[4] However, when the television presenter and agricultural journalist Maireád McGuinness emerged as a potential candidate, Lord Mount Charles withdrew from the race.[4]

Lord Conyngham, as he has been known since March 2009, and his wife divide their time between Beauparc House and Slane Castle in County Meath; the latter was the family's principal ancestral seat until it was badly damaged by fire in 1992, but has now been restored.

Lord Conyngham enjoys a high profile in Ireland as the author of a weekly column in the Irish Daily Mirror. He has been dubbed 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 amphitheatre in the grounds of Slane Castle. These concerts have included performances by The Rolling Stones, Thin Lizzy, Queen, U2, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, David Bowie, Metallica, Guns N' Roses, Oasis and Madonna. Henry, Lord Conyngham, received the Industry Award at the 2010 Meteor Awards.[5] 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.

Lord Conyngham, when he was styled as Viscount Slane, married Juliet Ann Kitson in 1971. They had three children, a daughter and two sons, and were divorced in 1985:

• Alexander Burton Conyngham, Earl of Mount Charles (born 30 January 1975), married Carina Bolton (paternal granddaughter of banker Sir George Bolton and paternal granddaughter of the 4th Baron Terrington), having a daughter and two sons:
  • Lady Laragh Conyngham (born 2009)
  • Rory Nicholas Burton Conyngham, Viscount Slane (born 2010)
  • The Hon. Caspar Conyngham (born 2012)[6][7]
• Lady Henrietta Tamara Juliet Conyngham, (born 1976), married Thomas, 6th Earl of Lichfield (son of the celebrated photographer Patrick Lichfield);[8]
• Lord Wolfe Conyngham (born 1978), celebrity chef[9]

Lord Conyngham, when he was styled as Lord Mount Charles, was married secondly in 1985 to Lady Iona Charlotte Grimston (born 1953), youngest daughter of The 6th Earl of Verulam. They have a daughter:

• Lady Tamara Jane Conyngham (born 1991)[10]

• Burke's Peerage
• Marquess Conyngham
• Slane Concert

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

• History of Slane Castle by The Eighth Marquess