At noon today the family and friends gathered for the funeral of Henry Conyngham, The 8th Marquess Conyngham (Lord Henry Mount Charles). In a very simple coffin, his remains arrived to his beloved Slane village. The funeral was celebrated by Rev John Clarke at St Patrick’s Church of Ireland.
Rev.Clarke thanked the congregation and the many people who has streamed the funeral service to give thanks and to celebrate the life of Henry. Outside too, there was a large attendance, to pay respects to a man who put Slane on the international map. But also a man whose deep love for Slane and it’s people were always close to his heart. There were readings by his brother Simon and Adam Clayton of U2.
His son Alex spoke of the man, his dad, outlining the true affection he held throughout his life in particular to Mary Browne, Emer Mooney , The Doggett family and Dermott Shefflin among the many staff that worked in the castle over the many years. He was a man that struggled with his Anglo Irish identity.
Alex Conyngham, 9th Marquess speaking to the mourners at the service,
It was when he travelled to America and was at college at Harvard, he read what Wolfe Tone said. There was a ”fog of uncertainty lifted”about his ancestry and his Irishness, when he came to realise ‘ through the writings and ethos of the likes of Wolfe Tone that Ireland was a country fed by many streams and that he as an Anglo Irish aristocrat belonged to one of those streams and if he applied himself he could make a positive contribution towards it. Politically, he was a passionate constitutional republican, and he truly loved this country, its culture, its people and he counted himself blessed to be an Irishman.” Henry’s son Alex recalled ‘ I will never forget the thrill of being with dad when he walked Bruce Springsteen to the stage in ‘1985.
The daughter of Lord Henry Mountcharles told mourners at his funeral of a simple message passed on to her by her dad who passed away a week ago. Tamara Conyngham, pictured above,revealed. ‘Dad once told me if you are lucky enough to live somewhere as beautiful as Slane then share that luck’ adding , ‘ he certainly lived up to that.’
A packed St Patricks Church of Ireland in Slane they heard celebrant Canon John Clarke recall Henry’s decade long battle with cancer, ‘He fought it with courage and when the end came he slipped away quietly and those of us who knew Henry would be aware quietly was not his style, he was a titled man who despite appearances was not born with a silver spoon in his mouth and took over the castle when it was a mess and with the brainwave of hosting rock concerts turned things around.”
The village came to a standstill as locals mixed with well known faces including, former Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, Helen McEntee TD, Cathaoirleach of Meath County Council and Slane native Cllr Wayne Harding and concert promoter Denis Desmond (MCD) who gave a round of applause as the funeral cortege arrived following the short walk from the castle.
