Kennedys mourn for two ‘brightest lights’

TWO members of the Kennedy family were presumed drowned in the latest tragedy to befall America’s most famous political dynasty.

Maeve Kennedy Townsend McKean, 40, granddaughter of former US attorney general Robert Kennedy, and her eightyear-old son Gideon, went missing while paddling a canoe on Chesapeake Bay, Maryland, on Thursday. David McKean, Maeve’s husband, said: “It’s clear Maeve and Gideon have passed away. The search for their recovery will continue.”

The pair were playing with a ball on land when it was kicked into the water. Mr McKean said: “They got into a canoe, intending to retrieve the ball, and somehow got pushed by wind or tide into the open bay.”

Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, Mrs McKean’s mother, said: “My heart is crushed.” Congressman Joe Kennedy III, also a grandchild of Robert, said: “Our family has lost two of the brightest lights.”

Mrs McKean, a public health and human rights lawyer, was executive director of the Georgetown University Global Health Initiative in Washington.

It was the latest in a long series of family tragedies.

Robert Kennedy was assassinated in 1968 while running for the presidency, five years after his brother, President John F Kennedy, was also assassinated.

Less than a year ago, Saoirse Kennedy Hill, another granddaughter of Robert, died from an overdose at 22.