The young duke has several other residences. One of them is Kilkea
Castle, County Kildare, which came into the family in the thirteenth
century, with ninety thousand acres of farm land, which has just been
sold to his tenants under the Wyndham Land Act for more than $6,000,000.
The Duke of Leinster has also disposed of his farming lands in the
neighborhood of Maynooth for more than $800,000. The estates commission,
which has the responsibility of carrying out the provisions of the land
act, has purchased more land from him than from any other landlord, and
he has received from them in payment nearly one-fourth of the entire
amount of money that has been paid under the act by the government. He
has a plain but spacious town house on Dominick Street, Dublin, and Mrs.
John W. Mackay now occupies his London residence, 6 Carlton House
Terrace, under a long lease. His wealth is estimated at $50,000,000. He
is unmarried, and has no attachments so far as known. His accumulation
of titles is even greater than his wealth. He is the sixth duke of
Leinster, which title dates from 1761, and was bestowed by Queen Anne;
he is the twenty-fifth earl of Kildare, which title dates from 1316; and
the thirty-first baron of Offlay, a title that has been in the family
since 1168. He is the premier duke, the premier marquis, the premier
earl, and the premier baron; the head of the Irish nobility. And all
this rank and responsibility is borne by a frail boy of twenty-one.
[Illustration: CARTON HOUSE, MAYNOOTH, COUNTY KILDARE; THE RESIDENCE OF
THE DUKE OF LEINSTER]
He spent the winter of 1907-8 in America, incognito, under the name of
Maurice Fitzgerald. He and his tutor visited Quebec, Montreal, and
Ottawa, and all the principal cities in the United States. They
inspected Harvard, Yale, the University of Chicago, and Stanford
University, for the young duke has recently taken a degree at Oxford,
and was naturally curious to see some American institutions. He spent
some time in New York, and was in Washington for a couple of days
without disclosing his rank. He enjoyed himself immensely during the
entire journey and escaped all the matchmakers, the lion hunters, and
the society cormorants. He was not in search of a wife, but was seeking
health and completing his education. I am told that he is an exceedingly
sensible young fellow, modest, intelligent, thoughtful, and studious. He
does not need to marry for wealth nor for position. He can pick his own
wife, and has plenty of time to consider the choice.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account