Sir Alfred Beit, 2nd Baronet

Sir Alfred Lane Beit, 2nd Baronet (19 January 1903 – 12 May 1994[1]), was a British Conservative Party politician, art collector and philanthropist and honorary Irish citizen.

Having lived at 49 Belgrave Square, he bought a mansion on Kensington Palace Gardens (the most exclusive address in London), where these paintings were put on display.

Clementine's widowed mother spent long periods in Africa after marrying Captain Courteney Brocklehust, a game warden.

She was a contemporary of Unity Mitford at St Margaret's School, Bushey, and also went to Berlin to learn German, where she met Hitler through her cousin.

She was occasionally escorted by a handsome young stormtrooper, and was asked by Unity to "waggle a flag" as "the darling Führer" passed in the street.

Alfred Beit bought Russborough House in County Wicklow, Ireland, in 1952, following a suggestion by Randal, 19th Lord Dunsany, and moved his art collection there.

The Beits continued to visit Africa in the 1950s and, having no children of their own, they paid for schools, libraries and health clinics in Zimbabwe, Malawi and Botswana.

[8] In 1974, an IRA gang led by Rose Dugdale broke into Russborough House, making off with nineteen paintings, including a Goya, a Vermeer and a Gainsborough.

Beit was made an honorary Irish citizen in 1993, in recognition of his philanthropy, including a 1987 donation of seventeen masterpieces to the National Gallery of Ireland.

[13] In December 2006 the Foundation sold a collection of Italian medieval bronzes for £2,000,000 at Christie's in London to support ongoing repairs at Russborough.