Desmond with JP Donleavy at the Castletown IGS annual cricket match, c. 1980s (Photo: Christopher Moore)

Frank Sinatra (who I never met) was always known as Mr Blue Eyes, but my first introduction to Mr Irish Blue Eyes was in 1973 when I was looking for a job and heard that Desmond Guinness was seeking a secretary. So I found myself invited over to Leixlip Castle to meet him one evening and without much ado he asked when could I start. I explained that I was just about to go on a trip to Kenya with my mother and brother so I wouldn’t be available immediately. When I started about a month later, Desmond handed me the final draft of the manuscript for “Lost Demesnes” by the Knight of Glin and Edward Malins to re-type (on an electric typewriter) as he was about to go off on a lecture tour in America and he thought this might keep me busy for the duration — how right he was!

There were no computers in those days and the finished copy had to be perfect. He went to the United States once or twice a year and was in constant demand to undertake lecture tours there, in England and elsewhere, promoting the Irish Georgian Society which he had co-founded with his wife Mariga in 1958. These were fundraising tours and were very important as such. One never knew what would happen next when working for Desmond. There were endless visitors from all over the place including a lot of tour groups, mostly Americans, who always exclaimed on how green the grass was in Ireland! During the summer we might host three lunches or dinners a week in the Castle. Desmond was incredibly polite and friendly to everybody and always made them feel at home in Leixlip even if he did gently glide from one group to another leaving each engrossed in their conversation!

He was generous too and once sent me off on a holiday when asked by a French couple (Bernard & Nicole de Claviere) who were renting an apartment at Castletown and had asked Desmond if he knew anyone who might like to accompany Nicole in their car back to France, he said “Audrey needs a holiday, I’m sure she’d love to go” — so I did. Some 47 years later I was still going to Leixlip up to the time of his death in August to do a variety of administrative duties! Over that long period of time I found it very easy to work with Desmond and he was very supportive of any initiatives I might propose: The Delany and Dixon tablemats were a prime example and are still being eagerly bought. He enthusiastically threw himself into projects and often got involved at the initial stage — I remember him overnighting in Co. Tipperary as he led a group of young volunteers to work on the Shanahan Mausoleum. In latter years I felt a great sadness going to the Castle as Desmond’s memory was fading as he slipped away from all of us. Desmond Guinness gave his life to conservation and the current level of appreciation of Georgian architecture in Ireland is due entirely to his pioneering spirit.

Audrey Emerson worked from 1973 at Lexlip Castle with Desmond Guinness and the Irish Georgian Society. This was originally featured in the Irish Georgian Society Review (2020).