THE IRISH ROYAL CONNECTIONS
Princess Virginia of Saxony
Princess Virginia died at the age of 91 in Co Westmeath this week. Her husband was Prince Ernest of Saxony, the third son of the last King of Saxony.She lived on a substantial farm at Coolamber, near Mullingar, Co Westmeath since the early 1950s. In 1958, Prince Ernest had his name read into the official Dail records by Minister for Agriculture Sean Flanigan because the State had bought a champion Aberdeen Angus bull, Eminence of Mount Prospect from him for 320 guineas. Princess Virginia's stepsons, Prince Gero and Prince Dedo, live in Co Meath and Co Westmeath.
Prince Caspian Guirey
Caspian Guirey will be 30 this March and lives in Ratoath, Co Meath. He's married to a former Ryanair hostess, and is himself a qualified airline pilot. He's the son of Prince Azamat Guirey, who died in the Bahamas in August last year and who could trace his ancestry back to a Khan of the Crimea in the 1400s, and possibly to the celebrated Ghengis Khan. Prince Azamat was first married to Princess Sylvia Obolensky, but subsequently married film-maker Kevin McClory's former film-star ex-wife Frederica Ann Sigrist, better known as Bobo Sigrist. The Prince and Princess Guirey were extremely popular members of the Dublin social scene until the went to live in Nassau in the 1990s.
Serena, Viscountess Linley
The former Serena Stanhope was born in Limerick and was a PR executive before she met and married David, Viscount Linley, Princess Margaret's son. Serena, the daughter of Virginia Freeman Jackson and granddaughter of racing peer Lord Harrington, visits her family in Ireland frequently with her two-year son, the Hon Charles Patrick Inigo Armstrong-Jones, 13th in line for the throne of England.
Princess Haya Bint Al Hussein
In the mid-1990s Princess Haya, the daughter of the late King Hussein of Jordan, who died in 1999, was a regular competitor in gymkhanas and horse shows around the country and also competed in the Dublin Horse Show. She signed a three-year contract with regular Aga Khan trophy rider Paul Darragh to learn all about the sport and moved her nine horses to his stud at Tara, Co Meath. The young princess also managed some respectable finishes in races at Kilkenny and the Curragh.
Princess Frances Di Stigliano Colonna
Princess Frances Colonna is a regular on the Dublin social scene, and a breeder of horses of considerable note on her stud farm in Co Wicklow. Born Frances Loftus, a farmer's daughter in Tuam, Co Galway, she was first married to Ken Wilby, racehorse owner and former proprietor of the Bailey in Dublin. Their daughter, Jayne Wilby, married Lord 'Geordie' Porchester, who inherited the title of Earl of Carnarvon, the 5000-acre Highclere Castle and £100 million. After her divorce, Frances married Prince Prospero Di Stigliano Colonna, who can actually trace his antecedents to 400 BC and is a descendant of Julius Caesar.
Myles McWeeney
