Logo

12 Facts About Desmond Guinness

1.

Desmond Walter Guinness was an Anglo-Irish author of Georgian art and architecture, a conservationist and the co-founder of the Irish Georgian Society.

2.

Desmond Guinness was the second son of the author and brewer Bryan Guinness, 2nd Baron Moyne, and his then wife Diana Mitford.

3.

Mitford was interned in 1940, and Desmond Guinness later recalled visiting her in Holloway Prison when he was 10.

4.

Desmond Guinness was educated at Eton and Gordonstoun, and studied French and Italian at Christ Church, Oxford.

5.

Desmond Guinness was married at Oxford in 1954 to Princess Henriette Marie-Gabrielle von Urach, daughter of Furst Albrecht von Urach and a granddaughter of King Mindaugas II of Lithuania, who was generally known as "Mariga".

6.

Mariga Desmond Guinness moved to London alone in 1969, later lived in County Antrim, and later still returned to Leixlip Castle.

7.

In 1984, Desmond Guinness married Penelope Cuthbertson, daughter of the socialite Teresa Jungman, and a granddaughter of the artist Nico Wilhelm Jungmann.

8.

In more recent years, Desmond Guinness founded a scholarship for students of architecture.

9.

Desmond Guinness stood down as President of the IGS in 1990.

10.

Desmond Guinness's daughter Marina is a patron of the arts and of Irish musicians including Glen Hansard, Damien Rice, and the band Kila.

11.

Desmond Guinness was the older half-brother of Max Mosley, former President of the FIA.

12.

Desmond Guinness was a member of the Society of Dilettanti in London.