Nicholas Preston, 17th Viscount Gormanston
(Jenico) Nicholas Dudley Preston, 17th Viscount Gormanston (born 19 November 1939), is an Anglo-Irish aristocrat and British hereditary peer, who sat on the Conservative & Unionist benches in the House of Lords (as Baron Gormanston) until 1999.[1]
Lord Gormanston is styled the Premier Viscount of Ireland, his title being created by Edward IV in 1478.[2]
Family background
The only son and heir of the 16th Viscount Gormanston (1914–1940) and Pamela Hanly (1917–1975), only daughter and heiress of Captain Edward Hanly,[3] of Avonmore House, Co. Wicklow[4] and Lady Marjorie Feilding (daughter of the 9th Earl of Denbigh GCVO), he succeeded in the family titles before his first birthday.[5]
His father, the 16th Viscount Captain Jenico Preston, King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry (who married Pamela Hanly in 1939), served in WWII being killed in action[6] at Dunkirk in 1940.[7]
His grandfather, the 15th Viscount Gormanston JP DL, a prominent Irish landowner (of about 11,000 acres),[8] served as a Lieutenant in the 15th (Prince of Wales' Own Civil Service Rifles) Bn, The London Regiment. His maternal great-grandfather was General Sir William Butler, of Bansha Castle, County Tipperary, and his great-grandmother was the celebrated Victorian painter, Elizabeth Thompson (later Lady Butler). The diplomat, the 14th Viscount Gormanston GCMG, was his paternal great-grandfather.
Gormanston Castle
The ancestral seat, Gormanston Castle in County Meath, Ireland, was sold to the Franciscan Order of Friars Minor (OFM) in 1947, becoming Gormanston College.[9]
Later life
A Roman Catholic as with his recusant ancestors, he was educated at the Benedictine school of Downside, Somerset.
A socialite, Lord Gormanston became a connoisseur of art, being elected FRSA.[10]
Personal life
In 1974, Viscount Gormanston married firstly, Eva-Antonie Landzianowska (1955–1984),[11] daughter of Feliks Landzianowski (1907–2001),[12] by whom he has two sons:[13]
- The Hon. Jenico Francis Tara Preston, born 30 April 1974, heir apparent; commercial director[14] British Fashion Council[15] then Future Olympia,[16] married 2015 Kelly Catherine Reade (born 1978), global communications director Jo Malone,[17] descended via her mother from the marquises of Chaves,[18] by whom he has one son,
- (Jenico Bertram Nicholas) Alfred Preston, born 2016, heir-in-line;[19]
- The Hon. William Luke Preston, born 1976, married 2016 Victoria Christensen.[20]
He married secondly on 2 November 1997 Lucy Arabella Grenfell (née Fox; 1960), only daughter of Edward Fox and Tracy Reed.[21]
Lord and Lady Gormanston live in Kensington, London.
See also
- Baron Gormanston (I, cr. 1365)
- Baron Gormanston (UK, cr. 1868)
- House of Lords
References
- ^ "Parliamentary career for Viscount Gormanston – MPs and Lords – UK Parliament". members.parliament.uk.
- ^ "Burke's Peerage & Baronetage".
- ^ www.iwm.org.uk
- ^ www.irishhistorichouses.com
- ^ www.college-of-arms.gov.uk
- ^ www.parliament.uk
- ^ www.npg.org.uk
- ^ www.jstor.org
- ^ www.gormanstoncollege.ie
- ^ "The RSA - Royal Society of Arts".
- ^ Eva Landzianowska funeral @ www.gettyimages.co.uk
- ^ "Viscountess found dead after heroin overdose". Westminster & Pimlico News. 28 December 1984. Retrieved 18 September 2024 – via British Newspaper Archive.
- ^ "Gormanston, Viscount (I, 1478)". www.cracroftspeerage.co.uk.
- ^ www.haberdashers.co.uk
- ^ www.fashionunited.uk
- ^ www.olympia.co.uk
- ^ www.diarydirectory.com
- ^ "Jo Malone London".
- ^ www.burkespeerage.com
- ^ www.debretts.com
- ^ Burke’s Peerage & Baronetage. Vol. I (106th ed.). London: Burke’s Peerage (Genealogical Books) Ltd. 1999. p. 1179. ISBN 1-57958-083-1.