The last will and testament of a Guinness heir: ‘I give Galway back her ancient gates — and my nephews get the Rolls Royces’
THE traditional music enthusiast and Guinness heir the Hon Garech Browne of Luggala, Co Wicklow, has left more than €4m in an eccentric 1985 will in which many of the beneficiaries, including his father and mother, Lord and Lady Oranmore and Browne, are already dead.
He added a brief codicil (correction) in 1990 to revoke a legacy of £1,000 to one beneficiary and instructed: “My mortal remains are to be cremated by a fire of sandalwood and cow dung, according to Hindu rites.”
He left his nephews a vintage Rolls-Royce each, a 1951 Silver Wraith to Dorian Browne and a 1931 Phantom II to his brother Julian.
Garech Domnagh Browne died on March 10 this year at St Thomas Hospital Westminster, London, aged 79 after falling ill while dining with his cousin Nicholas Gormanston. His ashes were scattered on Lough Tay, according to his wishes, on August 10.
His will names Irish friends, relatives and staff as beneficiaries but he also bequeathed valuable paintings and artefacts to the Irish nation.
These include a portrait of Henrietta Moreas by Francis Bacon, a portrait of Countess Cowley by Edward McGuire, two pencil drawings of Francis Bacon by Lucian Freud, a portrait of himself by Lucien Freud and a series of lithographs by Edward Delaney, which have been left to the National Gallery of Ireland.
He left the ‘Bow Gate’ from the Oranmore and Browne family seat, Castle MacGarrett in Co Mayo, one of the original gates of the walled city of Galway, (if it has not been erected at Luggala) to Galway City Council and his books and manuscripts to Marsh’s Library in Dublin.
His horse-drawn carriages have been left to the nation, provided they are retained here and open to public view on suitable occasions and the Government accepts the gift within 18 months of his will going to probate.
Garech Browne was the son of Lord Dominick Oranmore and Browne and Oonagh Guinness, the brewery heiress.
He was brought up in gilded circles at Castle MacGarrett, Luggala, London and Paris.
His brother, Tara, famed in later years as part inspiration for The Beatles song A Day in the Life, was killed in a car crash in London aged 21.
In the documents, Garech Browne’s addresses are given as Luggala, St Peters Port, Guernsey, and Tara Road, Bombay, India. The administration of his estate, which amounts to €4,452,796, was vested in his nephew, Dorian Clifford Browne, of Surrey.
Luggala and the 5,000acre estate surrounding Lough Tay, Co Wicklow, which belongs to a Guinness trust is on sale for €28m.
Garech Browne, who was childless, appointed two Guernsey-based solicitors and his wife, Princess Harshad Purna Devi Jadeja of Movi as his trustees.
Apart from personal bequests, he left all his property and effects to be divided two-thirds to his wife and one-third to his nephews, Dorian and Julian.
He left £30,000 to his brother Gay Kindersley, who was also left a portrait of their mother by De Laszlo. He left £30,000 to his father and in the event of his death to go to his mother, both of whom are dead. He left £25,000 to his brother Dominick, the current Lord Oranmore and Browne, and £10,000 each to “my adopted brother” Desmond Guinness and “my adopted sister” Manuela Guinness.
He left a further £10,000 each to Derek Lindsay and his Uncle Geoffrey as well as £3,000 to his Aunt Kathleen.
He bequeathed his six goddaughters and five godsons £1,000 each and left £5,000 to Tara MacGowran as well as his manuscript of Samuel Beckett’s
Endgame and other Beckett “oddments”, and his shares in Claddagh Records to John Montague, Richard Ryan and Derek Bell.
He willed £3,000 to his secretary, Jan Boulton, and £3,000 to the staff of the New Palace, Movi. He also left £1,000 and a year’s salary to specified staff at Luggala and Claddagh Records.
‘He also left a year’s salary to staff at Claddagh Records...’