Any castles/Abbeys etc in Ireland that have or once had descendants of the royal fami

SazSarsh

I am getting married next month and myself and my to be husband are hoping to travel around Ireland for 2 weeks before heading off on our honeymoon to Italy.

We both have an interest in the royal British family and Her majesty the queen and would love to visit castles/areas around Ireland that are related to the royal family in some way.

So far on our list we have discovered Birr Castle in Co. Offaly which we believe is the home of the Earl of Rosse whose half brother married Princess Margaret, the queen's sister.

We would obviously like romantic places to visit while we discover Ireland but we would strongly like to visit similar places to birr castle.

Peregrinus

The closest connection to British Royalty is probably Classiebawn Castle in County Sligo, which belonged to the Earl Mountbatten and was his summer home. He was an uncle of the Duke of Edinburgh, and therefore a great-uncle to the present Queen's children. I don't think it's open to the public, but I could be wrong.

As you say, Birr Castle has a connection to Princess Margaret through her disastrous marriage to Anthony Armstrong-Jones. She stayed there as a guest on at least two occasions, and at Abbeyleix House at least once.

Dublin Castle, of course, was technically a royal palace until 1922, and it was where British monarchs spent most time on their (infrequent, and usually short) visits to Ireland. The last monarch to stay there was George V in 1911. On the same visit he also spent a night at Ashford Castle, in County Galway, then a private home (of the Guinness family) but now a hotel. Prince Edward stayed in the hotel a few years back.

Hillsborough Castle, in County Down, is the usual residence of members of the Royal family who visit Northern Ireland for long enough to require somewhere to sleep. The grounds are open to the public, but the Castle is not. The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland has her official residence there.

Queen Victoria stayed for two nights in Muckross House in Killarney in 1861. You can visit Muckross House. On the same visit she also stayed two nights in Kenmare House, which is long demolished. (There is a house of that name today, but it's a later building on a different site.)

Edward VII made a visit to Ireland in 1904, during which he spent at least one night in Kilkenny Castle, which is open to the public.

ally_pally

As the previous poster said, Muckross House in Killarney was visited by Queen Victoria and Albert in the 1860s. Their visit basically made Killarney the tourist destination it now is as the area became fashionable to visit for quite a while afterwards. More info here: http://www.muckrosshouseresearchlibrary.ie/Queen-Victoria.php. They visited lots of the main scenic sites with one particular area now called Ladies View after Victoria's ladies in waiting were so admiring of the view.

4ensic15

It is generally supposed that Queen Victoria stayed in the Viceregal lodge and not in Dublin castle. The rooms in Dublin Castle are very small.

SazSarsh

Thank you, they are options for us. We were thinking of places where people are actually still living in who are related in some way to the queen. For example in birr castle, the Earl living there is brother's with princess Margarets husband.

pedroeibar1

SazSarsh wrote: »

T..... We were thinking of places where people are actually still living in who are related in some way to the queen.

People of that level in society do not do 'trade' - they have sufficient loot to keep their doors firmly closed.

To each his/her own, but if you have an interest in the British royal family (not the ‘royal British family’ per your post) what is the point of looking in Ireland? We got rid of that monarchy almost 100 years ago. There are countless hotels in the UK and NI with much stronger links to royal sojourns, most of them former homes of landed gentry/aristocracy/politicians whose expenditure on (or in the hope of) a visit from a ‘Royal’ helped cause their eventual financial ruin.

Another hotel with royal 'stay' links is in Glaslough - Castle Leslie; several royals, princes & princesses stayed there, as did Winston Churchill, a nephew of the then chatelaine, Leonie Leslie nee Jerome. So too has Ashford Castle, where the PoW came for woodcock shooting as a guest of the Guinesses.

This thread is tourism, not history, but if you want a 'castle experience' look at Cabra Castle and its chain of sister castle hotels.

Peregrinus

SazSarsh wrote: »

Thank you, they are options for us. We were thinking of places where people are actually still living in who are related in some way to the queen. For example in birr castle, the Earl living there is brother's with princess Margarets husband.

If you’re looking for family connections of the Queen, the Rosses are about all there is, I’m afraid. The present Lord Fermoy is a first cousin to the late Diana Spencer, and so a first cousin once removed to William and Harry. However, although the family is originally Irish they have lived (and married) in England for many generations and now consider themselves English. SFAIK they have no property in Ireland so there would be nothing you could visit

The truth is that until the last generation or so the Windsors only married into other royal families or into the very highest and richest nobility. Ireland doesn’t really make the cut; most members of the Irish peerage are not particularly high, and are very far from rich. And, if we are looking for ancestral nobility, a disturbingly large proportion of Irish peers received their peerages as a bribe in return for support for the Act of Union. English monarchs may have been pragmatic about doling our peerages to such people, but they would hardly want their children to marry them.

Now that the royals can marry commoners, if sufficiently monied or well-connected, the possibility of establishing Irish connections is slightly greater, but as yet there are still very few.

If connections by marriage are few and far between, what about connections by descent? There are a few of these, but they are very distant. The present Queen is descended from Diarmuid O'Brien, 5th Lord Inchiquin, and therefore is a distant cousin of the present (18th) Lord Inchiquin. However the family seat, Dromoland Castle, was sold out of the family in 1962; it is now a hotel. The Queen was also some class of a cousin to the last Duke of Ormonde (family seat, Kilkenny Castle) and is a cousin to the present Duke of Leinster (family seats, Leinster House and Carton House). But in both cases the relationship is extremely distant, and the family no longer lives in their former Irish castles and houses - or, indeed, in Ireland.

riffmongous

Not related to the current royal family, but does anyone know where James II stayed while he was in Ireland? I just know the rough outline of his journeys: land at Kinsale -> Dublin -> Siege of Derry -> return to Dublin, then after the Boyne Dublin-> Duncannon -> Kinsale and France

DanMurphy

OP when you are in Birr, travel a few miles further (7 or 8) to Cloghan and visit Clononey Castle on the Shannonbridge road.
This castle has some history, being built by the MacCoughlan Clan and seceded to Henry V111.
Henry, in turn gave it to Ann Boleyn's father as a gift. Ann's parents and cousins died and are buried within the walls, and the grave visible from the road.
This castle has been recently renovated and I'm not sure if visitors are allowed?

Check Clononey Castle on Wikipedia for more info.)

Peregrinus

DanMurphy wrote: »

OP when you are in Birr, travel a few miles further (7 or 8) to Cloghan and visit Clononey Castle on the Shannonbridge road.
This castle has some history, being built by the MacCoughlan Clan and seceded to Henry V111.
Henry, in turn gave it to Ann Boleyn's father as a gift. Ann's parents and cousins died and are buried within the walls, and the grave visible from the road.
This castle has been recently renovated and I'm not sure if visitors are allowed?

Check Clononey Castle on Wikipedia for more info.)

Anne's father, Thomas Boleyn, died at Hever Castle and is buried in St. Peter's Church in Hever. Her mother Elizabeth was buried in St. Mary's church in Lambeth.

DanMurphy

Wiki needs changing so !

Jellybaby1

I've been following this thread as I knew there would be a lot of knowledge shared and its all very interesting. I don't understand why it is important to the OP that these minor 'royals' be still in residence. I've visited a lot of old estates over the years, and the owners rarely show up for the tours and I certainly wouldn't expect them to.

SazSarsh

Jellybaby1 wrote: »

I've been following this thread as I knew there would be a lot of knowledge shared and its all very interesting. I don't understand why it is important to the OP that these minor 'royals' be still in residence. I've visited a lot of old estates over the years, and the owners rarely show up for the tours and I certainly wouldn't expect them to.

It is not overly important to me but it's just interesting for us

SazSarsh

I know that these minor royals as jelly baby mentioned never come out to the tours but that isn't the point. We just find it interesting knowing that there are these people living there and then looking up these people afterwards. We don't have any interest really in hotels or ruins of a castle with history really. That castle in Birr seems to be the exact kind of place we are looking for! So we have that on our list, and if anyone thinks of a similar place to It, please let us know!

SazSarsh

SazSarsh wrote: »

I know that these minor royals as jelly baby mentioned never come out to the tours but that isn't the point. We just find it interesting knowing that there are these people living there and then looking up these people afterwards. We don't have any interest really in hotels or ruins of a castle with history really. That castle in Birr seems to be the exact kind of place we are looking for! So we have that on our list, and if anyone thinks of a similar place to It, please let us know!

If you are looking for somewhere to get married, then Highclere Castle in the UK would suit you. it has a ton of history and is, of course, the real Downton Abbey.

https://www.highclerecastle.co.uk/

In Ireland, if you are looking for somewhere to stay with some history, then the Royal Marine Hotel in Dun Laoghaire has hosted several heads of state, including Queen Vic. http://www.royalmarine.ie/en/history/ Dun Laoghaire, of course, was once named Kingstown in honour of the visit of George IV.

During his visit, George IV stayed at what is now Áras an Uachtaráin but apparantly stayed a few nights at Slane Castle and was wined and dined at Powerscourt

The Queen's official residence in Northern Ireland is Hillsborough Castle, which you can visit as well.

SazSarsh

SazSarsh wrote: »

I know that these minor royals as jelly baby mentioned never come out to the tours but that isn't the point. We just find it interesting knowing that there are these people living there and then looking up these people afterwards. We don't have any interest really in hotels or ruins of a castle with history really. That castle in Birr seems to be the exact kind of place we are looking for! So we have that on our list, and if anyone thinks of a similar place to It, please let us know!

where are you visiting from? If you are flying in via Heathrow, then stop off for a couple of days and visit Windsor (only a few miles from Heathrow). Apparently there's a wedding taking place there in May you might be interested in

http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2018/03/08/meghan-markle-and-prince-harrys-royal-wedding-everything-need-to-know.html

whisky_galore

Peregrinus wrote: »

Edward VII made a visit to Ireland in 1904, during which he spent at least one night in Kilkenny Castle, which is open to the public.

He visited (possibly overnighted?) Lismore Castle as well.

Gardens are accessible to the public, the castle itself is mostly private.