Desmond Guinness

He was the second son of the author and brewer Bryan Guinness, 2nd Baron Moyne, and his then wife Diana Mitford (later Lady Mosley).

Desmond's mother divorced the then Bryan Guinness after five years and married the head of the British fascist Blackshirt movement, Oswald Mosley, in Berlin in 1936.

Due to Mitford's interest in fascism, her father-in-law the 1st Baron had arranged for surveillance from 1935 onward, including by one of Guinness's governesses, and MI5 even noted a plan for her to visit Hitler with her sons.

In 1984, Guinness married Penelope Cuthbertson, daughter of the socialite Teresa Jungman, and a granddaughter of the artist Nico Wilhelm Jungmann.

[14] His daughter Marina is a patron of the arts and of Irish musicians including Glen Hansard, Damien Rice, and the band Kíla.

Marina has three children of her own: Patrick (by Stewart Copeland of The Police), Violet (by photographer Perry Ogden), and Finbar (by record producer Denny Cordell).

In 2001 he was made an honorary member of the Royal Institute of the Architects of Ireland and was awarded the gold medal of the Eire Society of Boston.

[19] Guinness wrote the following books: three further books with Julius Trousdale Sadler: two with William Ryan: and two with Jacqueline O'Brien, wife of the famous racehorse trainer Vincent O'Brien: Guinness wrote numerous articles, including Thomas Jefferson: Visionary Architect.