'Lord Henry Mount Charles was one of the nicest people I ever met'
Lord Henry Mount Charles, who died after a long illness yesterday, was one of the nicest people I ever met in my life.
He might have had a Harvard education, a posh voice, the owner of beautiful Slane Castle which he loved with a passion, but he was down to earth and as honest as they come.
I met him as a cub reporter in 1981 when he was running his first ever Slane rock concert which starred Thin Lizzy and U-2. I was 19 and he was 30 and we became friends ever since.
We had some great times together over the years. Parties after Slane, dinners in Beauparc which later became his home, drinks out and about in Dublin, and many intense political discussions on everything from the then Troubles in the north to the state of the Irish economy, and the political shenanigans in Fine Gael and Fianna Fail.
I was a working class boy from Brookville Park, Drogheda and he ,a member of the Anglo-Irish aristocracy - but as the late John Hume would say we have more in common than what divided us.
When Henry inherited the Slane estate he inherited a headache. He had to reinvent Slane and make it pay, easier said than done. The devastating fire at the Castle made it even more difficult but yet he never complained.
He never saw himself as the owner but as the custodian of the estate to protect it for the next generation. But Henry had the drive, passion and energy to make it work and wow what a legacy he has left.
He made Slane one of the most famous rock and roll venues in the world and created Slane Whiskey and the fantastic distillery with the help of his beloved son Alex and it is now one of the top selling brands in America.
When I became editor of the Irish Mirror one of the first things I did was ask Henry to write a weekly column and this he did with great pride and passion for almost three decades.
No matter where Henry was in the world he still wrote his column every week and as he battled lung cancer over the last ten years, there were many weeks when he was extremely ill but he never missed his deadline.
He thought it amusing and yet inspiring that he had direct access to the working class people of Ireland and he loved and respected all of his readers.
I last spoke to his Lordship as I always affectionately called him a few weeks ago and although his voice was weak he was still in good spirits.
Every time I asked how are you he would respond "I am alive thank God.'
Such was his low immune system and the risk of catching a killer infection Henry had to stay away from people during the last few years of his life.
But yet he didn't complain and enjoyed every second of his daily walks along the river Boyne around his Slane and nearby Beauparc estates.
We nearly lost him a few times but he lived to tell the tale. Every time we spoke he always praised the wonderful staff at St James Hospital in Dublin where he was treated for his illness.
For a fella with a posh voice Henry was as down to earth as they come and never looked down his nose at anyone. His roots were the people of Slane, the people of Meath and the people of Ireland.
Nothing pleased him more than the Good Friday Agreement and to see peace finally arrive in ireland. The late former Northern Ireland Secretary of State Mo Mowlam was a great friend of his and he was devastated when she died from a brain tumour.
His lordship may have gone to the great rock concert in the sky but he left nothing behind on this earth, he lived every minute of every day and left nothing behind.
He adored his wonderful wife Iona and his children. They were his pride and joy. Henry was a legend and it was a privilege to know him. Ireland is a poorer place without him.
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