Royalty of a different kind has been making annual trips to Slane Castle since Henry Mountcharles, the rock ’n’ roll aristocrat, took the reins of the family estate.
Slane Castle is set against the emerald valleys of County Meath and framed by ancient trees, its grey stone walls mirroring an overcast sky. It’s become as natural a part of the Irish landscape as the Boyne River that runs through its grounds; its domes and turrets having borne witness over the centuries to everything from historic battles to a king’s infidelity.
But in modern times the castle has become a destination for royalty of the rock ’n’ roll variety.
Over the past 30 years, music megastars including U2, the Rolling Stones, Madonna, Oasis, David Bowie and the Red Hot Chili Peppers have been guests at Slane and performed some of their most memorable gigs to tens of thousands of fans in the natural amphitheatre of the castle grounds. And as Slane Castle has grown in renown, so has the self-styled rock promoter responsible for its reinvention, the eighth Marquess Conyngham, or Henry Mountcharles as he’s more informally known.
Slane has been in the Conyngham family for more than 300 years and, since he took over its running in 1976, he has become one of Ireland’s most intriguing characters. Known as the rock ’n’ roll aristocrat, he is a truly modern marquess.
On a grey Friday in August, his castle is a hive of activity, with preparations under way for a Buddhist wedding being held the next day. In the Gothic Revival ballroom, under the intricately carved, domed wood ceiling, King George IV, a 19th-century visitor to the castle, looks on from a life-sized oil painting as a golden stage is erected.
A middle-aged Australian sporting a David Bowie tour T-shirt has turned up at the gates with his wife, excited to see the place where his musical heroes have performed. Rhonda De Paor, Slane’s events manager, obligingly shows them around despite the fact a coachload of Austrian tourists are due to descend in half an hour.
For the full story pick up the September Red Bulletin Magazine.
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