Buzz
Guinness is one of the most iconic beers globally, found in virtually every Irish pub and celebrated during St. Patrick's Day. Songs and poems have been inspired by it, and there’s even a specific method to pour it. Yet, as intriguing as the beer itself is, the history of the family that created it is equally fascinating.
10. Brewing for the Church
Arthur Guinness, the mastermind behind the world-famous beer, is considered the patriarch of the modern Guinness family. When he was born, Ireland's brewing industry was in decline—many people were choosing English beers over Irish ones due to higher taxes. It also coincided with the tail end of the Gin Craze, a period marked by widespread drunkenness across the British Isles. It was the perfect moment to create a beer that was less alcoholic.
Brewing was in Arthur's blood—his father worked as a steward for the Anglican Archbishop of Cashel, assisting in the management of the estate’s brewery. When the Archbishop, who was also Arthur's godfather, passed away, he bequeathed £100 to Arthur. This inheritance went directly toward the purchase of his first brewery in Leixlip, County Kildare. Although Arthur initially brewed ale, it was his signature black porter that quickly brought him tremendous success.
Arthur firmly believed that everything he had achieved was a gift from God. To honor this divine blessing, he reinvested his earnings back into the community. He generously contributed to charitable organizations helping the poor, spoke out against the excesses of the wealthy, served on the board of a hospital focused on aiding the underprivileged, and financed the establishment of Ireland's first Sunday schools. As a Protestant in largely Catholic Ireland, his faith sometimes led to tension—once, he was even accused of mixing mashed-up Methodist hymn books into his beer. However, such controversies were short-lived, and his charitable actions garnered him great admiration.
9. Diana Guinness and Hitler
In 1929, socialite Diana Mitford married Bryan Guinness, a distant descendant of Arthur. The couple had two sons, Desmond and Jonathan, who would eventually inherit the Guinness empire. However, Diana’s story is one that remains quite perplexing.
In the early 1930s, Diana began an affair with Oswald Mosley, the leader of the British Union of Fascists. Mosley, who was married at the time, refused to divorce his wife for Diana. However, he eventually married Diana after her own marriage ended and she passed away.
Their wedding took place in the drawing room of Joseph Goebbels, with Adolf Hitler present. Diana and her sister Unity shared a close relationship with Hitler, a bond that Diana staunchly defended throughout her life. She famously said, once declaring: “The man I knew could not have done all that. Perhaps he went a little mad.” During the 1930s, Diana lived in Germany with her sons by Bryan Guinness, although they returned to Britain once the war began. Her children with Mosley had to be tutored privately since no British school would admit them.
To add another layer of complexity, Diana was also related to Winston Churchill, as his wife was her father’s cousin. During the war, Diana and Oswald were briefly imprisoned under a law allowing the government to detain anyone deemed a national security threat. They were accused of aiding the creation of pro-Nazi radio stations in Germany. Due to their connection to Churchill, the Mosleys endured minimal hardship—they were provided with a small house, private gardens, and even the option to recruit other prisoners as personal servants.
After the war, the couple primarily resided in France, near their close friends the Duke of Windsor and Wallace Simpson. However, they frequently returned to England, particularly to support efforts aimed at preventing non-white immigration into the country.
8. Daphne Guinness
Daphne Guinness, in her own words, simply wishes to go unnoticed. As the granddaughter of Diana Mitford, she was once pursued by earls and eventually married the Greek shipping magnate Spyros Niarchos. Despite her high-profile connections, she lived a largely private life until her divorce, after which her passion for fashion blossomed. Nowadays, she feels uncomfortable when people recognize her, but she refuses to abandon her glamorous style, even if it means being stared at in public.
The New Yorker once described her as the fashion industry's 'slightly eccentric minor aristocrat,' and she could certainly hold her own against Lady Gaga. Famous for supporting iconic designers like Chanel and Valentino, Daphne owns over 2,500 designer pieces, including her cherished Qing dynasty robes—which sometimes need replacing after being worn daily.
Once the youngest member of her family (until the scandal about her father's illegitimate children with his masseuse emerged), Guinness is now regarded as a mentor to emerging designers. Her daring fashion choices have even caused her injury—she once fell off her red sequined boots while walking through a German airport. She reportedly took great joy in the fact that her blood matched the color of the boots.
7. Walter Edward Guinness, Lord Moyne
Born in Dublin in 1880, the first Lord Moyne had an illustrious career. He served in both the Boer War and World War I, before entering Parliament. In 1944, he was appointed Minister Resident in Egypt and the British Middle East. Tragically, that same year, he was shot and killed by two assassins.
His assassins were members of Lehi, an extremist Jewish group dedicated to establishing an independent Jewish homeland. Both men had personal animosities toward the British presence in the Middle East.
Moyne had been a close ally of Churchill, and the assassination sparked fierce retaliation from Britain. Churchill ordered the mass arrest of those associated with Lehi, along with the execution of the assassins. As reported by the New York Times, Churchill declared: “If our dreams for Zionism are to end in the smoke of the assassin’s pistol and our labors for the future are to produce a new set of gangsters worthy of Nazi Germany, then many like myself would have to reconsider the position we have maintained so consistently and so long in the past.” Zionist leaders were swift to disassociate themselves from the murder, and the assassins were executed in 1945.
6. Lady Caroline Blackwood
Caroline Blackwood’s mother was one of the typical 'Guinness girls'—a privileged socialite more interested in drinking, partying, and traveling than in raising her children. As a result, Caroline spent most of her childhood under the care of nannies, who were more concerned with collecting their paycheck than providing genuine care. At one point, the wealthy heiress was forced to beg neighbors for food, while her younger brother actually developed rickets.
At the age of 21, Caroline shocked her parents by leaving for Paris to marry artist Lucian Freud. Though Freud would eventually rise to prominence as one of the greatest painters of the 20th century, at that time, his work was little known. To make matters worse, he was both Jewish and already married. His being the grandson of the famed Sigmund Freud didn’t make him an acceptable match in the eyes of high society.
But Caroline was deeply in love and more than willing to disregard societal norms. Unfortunately, their passion couldn’t endure, and the decline of their relationship is clearly reflected in the paintings Freud created of her. From a shy muse to a sad, despairing figure, she grew more distant as their romance slowly unraveled.
During this time, Caroline caught the attention of several other prominent figures. One of her suitors was the writer Cyril Connolly, and there was even an odd encounter with Picasso. While living in 1950s Paris, Freud and Blackwood were part of an avant-garde artists’ circle and were eventually invited to Picasso’s apartment. The aging painter, in his own peculiar way, asked Caroline if she would like to see his doves—which was his subtle attempt at making a pass at her on the rooftop. Caroline, however, skillfully avoided his advances. The situation didn’t end there, though. Not long after the pigeon incident, one of Picasso’s mistresses approached Freud and asked him to paint her, seemingly to provoke jealousy. Freud, always the gentleman, politely replied that he was busy working on a painting of his wife.
5. Jasmine Guinness
Jasmine Guinness is not just a supermodel gracing some of Europe's most prominent runways—she also owns a toy store called Honeyjam. Despite her connection to the Guinness family legacy, she detests being referred to as an heiress.
In 2008, Jasmine participated in an RTE television series where celebrities traced their family histories. Through the show, Jasmine discovered that she was not only connected to the Guinness brewing dynasty but also visited the 22-acre estate in Tyrone, Ireland, where her maternal ancestors had once lived as tenant farmers. The Caseys, a devout Catholic family, were forced to flee Belfast for Cork during the famine, struggling to survive as starvation ravaged the land.
While one side of her family flourished by managing the Guinness brewery, the other side faced hardship, sending their son away as an apprentice because they couldn't afford to feed him at home. While the Caseys relied on soup kitchens to get by, the Guinnesses were involved in some fairly unsavory activities.
During the famine, Guinness continued to use the majority of the country's barley harvest for beer exports, often requiring armed British guards to protect the ships. As desperate tenant farmers abandoned their land, the Guinnesses seized it at incredibly low prices for their estates. Jasmine remains philosophical about the situation: 'The family did contribute to famine-relief funds, but that was edited out of the show. Guinness was the first to introduce pensions for its workers 200 years ago. It built schools, hospitals, and housing, all of which was unheard of at that time.'
4. Jonathan Guinness And His Shoe
Lord Jonathan Guinness, son of Bryan Guinness and Diana Mitford, found himself at the heart of one of Sweden's biggest financial scandals. In 1997, it was revealed that his involvement with a company called Trustor was less than transparent. Guinness had invested around £20 million to acquire a majority share in Trustor, but he had used the company’s own money for the transaction. This was only the beginning: Trustor had falsely been declared a charitable organization, and funds were mysteriously missing from its accounts. Another of his ventures, Access to Justice, Ltd, faced investigation for its role in 'miscarriages of justice.'
During this turbulent time, Jonathan was married to his second wife, Suzanne. However, he was also secretly involved with a woman named Shoe Taylor, who had embarked on a journey across Europe in search of her own version of the von Trapp family. Instead, she became entangled in a chaotic world of drugs, communes, mysticism, love-ins, and alchemy. Having worked in various eccentric roles—from serving tea to the Beatles to performing in burlesque shows and living as a geisha—Shoe had lived a colorful life when Guinness fell for her. The couple would later have three children together, with Guinness setting her up in a house in Cornwall.
For a long time, their affair was just a rumor, but as speculation grew, Guinness eventually decided to write a book about Shoe's life, getting ahead of the media's coverage. After his financial downfall, the couple resorted to selling magnetized wristbands aimed at those suffering from arthritis to make ends meet.
3. Garech Browne
Garech Browne, brother to Tara Browne—the Guinness heir whose tragic passing inspired The Beatles' song 'A Day in the Life'—is now the steward of Luggala, a historic estate in the Wicklow Mountains. This hunting lodge, which has been in the Guinness family for generations, carries a legacy as deep and colorful as the family’s history itself.
Luggala, a whimsical structure resembling something straight out of a child’s fairytale, was gifted to Garech’s mother, Oonagh, as a wedding present in 1936. Oonagh, part of the 'Golden Guinness Girls'—three wealthy socialite sisters who lived lives of luxury and independence—had the world at her feet. Over the years, Luggala became a renowned gathering spot for legendary artists, from The Rolling Stones to U2. Garech, an avid supporter of the arts and Irish culture, owns Claddagh Records and manages the Chieftains. In a nod to his ancestors’ legacy, he recently held an auction at Luggala to fund the construction of a library to house his collection of over 8,000 books.
But Luggala is not just a family home—it is also Ireland’s priciest short-term rental, priced at $22,680 (€20,000) per week. The rental includes access to the estate’s cars, its butler Eugene, and unparalleled privacy. In 2006, it was revealed that Michael Jackson had spent three months there, avoiding the media. His time at Luggala turned the estate into an international sensation, with rumors swirling that his ghost still haunts the property. Numerous film crews have approached Garech about filming at Luggala, but he has rejected all requests, believing that such attention would spoil the estate’s tranquil hospitality. After all, the Guinness family is renowned for its hospitality.
2. Gloria Guinness
Though not born into the Guinness clan, Gloria became part of the legendary family through her marriage to Loel, possibly her third or fourth husband. This uncertainty reflects the elusive nature of the fashion icon's life.
Born in Mexico in 1912, possibly to a newspaperman and a seamstress, rumors about Gloria's first marriage surfaced before she ventured to Europe. Various tales circulated about why she left—some said she sought a wealthy husband, others claimed her parents sent her away to escape an unstable country.
By 1935, Gloria had married a German count and had two children. However, during the war, she relocated to Spain, sparking rumors that she might have been a German spy. These speculations were fueled by Aline Griffith’s book, The Spy Wore Red, which detailed the world of espionage and described a rivalry between Gloria Fuerstenberg and Griffith.
After the war, Gloria married the grandson of an Egyptian king, but the marriage ended in divorce. She met Loel Guinness when his wife, bored with yachting, asked her to join them on a vacation. Soon after, Gloria had taken her place in Loel's life. The marriage brought her grand residences, including apartments at New York’s Waldorf Towers, a villa in Switzerland, and homes across multiple countries. By 1963, she had become an international fashion icon and a contributing editor to Harper’s Bazaar, part of Truman Capote’s elite circle of 'swans'.
1. Kenelm Lee Guinness
Unlike most of his relatives who pursued careers in brewing or banking, Kenelm and his brother Algernon were captivated by the perilous world of motorsport. Kenelm went on to create his own car, infamous for its ability to shoot flames from its exhaust. He also invented the KLG spark plug, which proved to be far more than a racing success.
Initially designed for the high demands of racing engines, Kenelm’s spark plugs were also highly effective for aviation. When he attempted to join the Royal Navy at the start of World War I, his contribution to the war effort through his spark plug work was deemed so valuable that he was asked to leave the service and return to his factory.
After the war, Kenelm continued to dominate the racing scene, winning both the Spanish and Swiss Grand Prix. In 1922, he shattered the land speed record, reaching an astounding 226.1 kilometers per hour (140.5 mph). However, the car that helped him set the record would ultimately claim his life.
During the 1924 Spanish Grand Prix, Kenelm’s Sunbeam hit a rut and flipped, causing a tragic accident. His mechanic, Tom Barrett, died instantly, while Kenelm sustained severe head injuries that not only ended his racing career but also led to profound mental struggles. These challenges ultimately drove him to take his own life in 1937.
