Alex Conyngham can remember feeling that magic for the first time. He was 11 years old, standing in what was effectively the garden of his home watching one of the most enigmatic frontmen of rock hold an audience of tens of thousands in the palm of his hand.
‘I was here for the very first Slane show but the one that really blew me away early in my life was the Queen concert with Freddie Mercury,’ he says of the 1986 show. ‘He was the first one to really open my eyes to the power and magic of live music, which is so different to listening at home because the energy he brought that day, he lifted everybody.
Freddie Mercury and Brian May of Queen at Slane in 1986. Picture: Getty Images
‘I remember just being completely amazed that this was happening at my home and thinking that this is what live music is all about, this is what this place needs to be.’
It was a formative experience that has led to Alex taking over the business concerns of Slane from his father. Alex is now the Marquess Conyngham, otherwise known as the Earl of Mountcharles since the death of Lord Henry Mountcharles in June 2025. The grief at the loss of his father is still evident but, like so many others, Alex is feeling its fluidity, the way that it can sometimes creep up on you.
Keeping busy helps and there’s plenty of work to do, with the Slane Distillery, the organic farm and glamping site, the regular gigs and now The Traitors.
It’s a job that takes a lot of determination and one of the last things he can remember chatting to his father about is the need to dig your heels in and persevere when things get rough.
‘It’s all part of the process,’ Alex says. ‘Sometimes there are happier times and sometimes there are the sad ones but the important thing to remember is that it will pass.’
Alex Conyngham at Slane Castle, where he lives with his family. Picture: Michael Chester
Lord Henry was still alive when Alex signed on the dotted line to allow Slane to become home of The Traitors Ireland. He actually approached the TV company himself, something that surprised Darren Smith of Kite Productions, which makes the show, as he thought Slane was out of their league.
‘I cold-called them because I heard they were looking at different locations and they were surprised that Slane was even available,’ Alex says. ‘In some ways the castle as a character in the show has had a big role to play,’ he says of the spotlight that has been placed on his home.
‘You have to be entrepreneurial when you run a place like this. It’s a necessity because diversifying your income and looking at different things is collectively what makes the place work, so we’re always looking for new ways to do that.
‘But The Traitors Ireland is a logical extension for us because it’s another form of entertainment and this was a way of letting the house and the estate be the star of the show. It’s an amazing blank canvas and theatrical backdrop for this kind of drama.
‘I feel that when you see it up on the screen, the personality of the castle takes on a new spin and I love seeing that come alive in a different way.’
For series one, the venue was kept under wraps for some time but Alex insists this wasn’t hard.
‘We’re very used to keeping secrets in this family,’ he says. ‘We never reveal who the artist is for the gigs, and we were taught that from a very young age.
Alex in the basement of Slane Castle, where much of The Traitors action happens. Picture: Michael Chester
‘We’ve been raised with that ethos and that will continue. To us it’s all part of the responsibility of being tied to the place – it goes with the territory.’
It has just been revealed that Fontaines DC, one of Alex’s favourite bands will play the iconic venue next year in June, with tickets already selling like hotcakes for the 80,000 strong venue.
Alex and his wife Carina live with their three children, Laragh, 17, Hugh, 15 and 14-year-old Caspar in the castle but having the TV crews around was nothing out of the ordinary for Alex.
Growing up in a stately home that was a working environment was all that he knew.
‘Even in my memory it was never fully a private home, it was a busy business, there were weddings or events or corporate launches and then of course the gigs,’ he says.
‘We lived in the middle of all of that madness with Mum and Dad and then they were running around trying to keep it going.
‘It was a great adventure as a kid and I suppose you realise things are a little bit different when you invite your friends back home from school and of course they aren’t necessarily used to a castle. But it just made for a better game of hide and seek.’
It wasn’t a totally idyllic Meath childhood, however, because, when Alex was around nine, his parents split up and his mum Juliet moved back to England, taking him with her. ‘I think leaving everything that you know behind and particularly moving to a different country was difficult and certainly a wrench at the time,’ he recalls.
‘Slane was very much my home as was Ireland and so making the move was tough but children are incredibly adaptable and so you make the best of it.’
Alex went to Harrow, where his Irishness stood out among his peers, though he insists not in a bad way.
‘Dad commented on it many times as well,’ he says. ‘I think if you are Irish and you’re living somewhere else you’re always going to feel like a little bit of an outsider. But I certainly wasn’t made to feel unwelcome.
‘Then coming back to Ireland having been away from it for a long time there was an element of that too. Your home is where your heart and soul is, and to me that is very much Slane.’
That sense of being an outsider, he says, helped instil the value of empathy in him and his mother still continues to be a huge influence in his life.
‘My mum is a wonderful person and like any son, I adore my mum,’ he says. ‘She gave me love and confidence and taught me to try and be kind and all the other good things a person should try and be in their lives. I owe her a great deal.’
Tall and handsome, Alex is perhaps a slightly more gentle soul than his father. Where Lord Henry was gregarious, Alex is softly spoken and radiates a warmth that immediately puts people at ease in his company, despite the titles he now bears.
He’s the oldest of Lord Henry’s four children, the rest of whom live in England. His stepmum Iona is still in Navan, while he and his wife Carina run the business of Slane while looking after the children. They are a partnership in life and work, and one that has stood the test of time.
‘We met when we were teenagers at a ball in London, the Feathers Ball,’ he says.
Alex was 14 and Carina was 13 when they met and became inseparable but the course of true love didn’t run smoothly at first.
‘I’ve known her for a very long time,’ Alex says. ‘She was my first girlfriend. As one does, we went our separate ways in life but always stayed in touch. But we managed to come back together and I got to marry the love of my life. I am an incredibly lucky person for that.’
Alex with his wife Carina and sons Hugh and Caspar. Picture: Gareth Chaney
The couple’s eldest daughter Laragh, now 17, has Rett Syndrome, a genetic neurodevelopmental disorder that affects brain development, leading to severe physical and intellectual impairment. It is a regressive condition and almost exclusively affects girls.
Laragh has a mild variant of the condition, which meant it took a long time to get a diagnosis. ‘It was at times a very challenging journey but having the diagnosis was certainly helpful,’ Alex says. ‘Laragh is a remarkable person with enormous love and energy. She is the light of my life and we’re very lucky to have her in our lives, but at times it’s certainly challenging.
‘But again there are many others who have far more challenging situations and once you have an element of that you think how lucky you are to have what you have. It gives you more understanding and compassion of others who are in a tougher situation.’
One of the hardest things about Rett Syndrome is that it is regressive. At first, Alex and Carina noticed Laragh had developmental delay.
‘She was just developing more slowly, she had an asymmetric gait,’ he says. ‘But then things came to a head. We didn’t know at the time what was causing it but Laragh could speak perfectly normally, she could hold sentences she could converse and then she lost her ability to talk.
‘That’s when things really started to hit home that something wasn’t right. That was pretty heartbreaking.
‘I could remember talking to her and now I can’t, you know? She can communicate a little bit. She talks with her eyes and she can say a few words and we have learned to understand and read what that is. But she can’t tell us when she is in pain.
‘Obviously, when she gets distressed, we’ve got to try and figure out what’s causing it, so that’s hard. But she is able to kiss and cuddle and laugh and all of that is wonderful.’
Laragh goes to a special school in the Slane area while her brothers are at school in Dublin. ‘They’re amazing sons and they have been brilliant brothers to Laragh,’ Alex says. ‘They are great boys and I am really proud of them.’
Just like his dad did for him, Alex won’t put any pressure on his boys to take over the family business but he hopes they might decide to do it.
He studied art history at Trinity before learning entrepreneurial skills at the Smurfit School and worked abroad before coming back to Slane with new ideas. There’s now Slane Whiskey, weddings, events, the Rock Farm glamping site, the gigs and The Traitors to look after.
Without Carina, whose background and early working life was in finance, none of it would be possible.
‘She’s a remarkable person,’ he says of his wife. ‘She is the warrior by my side, and I would not be able to do any of this without her backbone, her intelligence, her passion and determination. She has been the making of me.
‘I realised very quickly when we got together that she was the one for me if she was willing to have me. I honestly am all the better for it. I mentioned Laragh, my daughter, being the light of my life, Carina is the love of my life.
‘This place would not be able to work in the way it does without her just as much as me.
‘We work together side by side and she is involved in every aspect of the business.’
Family is at the heart of everything Alex does, which is why he loved the idea of The Traitors, a family show that everyone watches together.
‘We were living in the middle of a film set, which was a great adventure for the whole family, including the dogs,’ he says, laughing. ‘We learned to dance around each other and we figured out the routes to navigate around the set, dodging the cables and the cameras.’
Siobhan McSweeney (centre) outside Slane Castle with last year’s Traitors Ireland finalists
There were times when some of the family might have come face to face with a contestant but there were rules to follow.
‘There’s always the occasional run-in but everybody knows how to handle that – eyes down, look ahead and carry on. There are absolutely no interactions at all. That’s very important, there’s time for that when it’s all over.
‘But it’s a great buzz to come back from work and see the castle has been lit up or there is a mission ongoing somewhere.’
Alex loves the fact that viewers can’t stream The Traitors, that families and friends sit around and watch each episode then discuss the plots, the tactics and the characters.
He’s a firm believer in the fact that the energy in Slane Castle is all to do with the families who have gone before his, the concerts that have been held in the grounds and, of course, his beloved dad.
‘Buildings are almost like living things, they nurture you if you nurture them and they carry energy and they carry memories,’ he says. ‘Over the course of your life you leave a little bit of yourself in them and you inherit that from previous lives who have been there.
‘I feel they do have a personality and a character and that needs to be respected and appreciated.’
Siobhan McSweeney outside Slane Castle during the first series of The Traitors Ireland
He has been approached by international versions of The Traitors who wanted to film at Slane but this was scuppered by restrictions on the tax break given to production companies, which he says is hampering the ability to win more business for Ireland. But as he and Carina continue to adapt and evolve the business of Slane Castle, Alex simply wants it all to work.
‘We ideally want to try and improve the place, the landscape, the ecology and the architectural heritage, so it’s about both protecting and, where we can, enhancing it,’ he says.
‘If Carina and I leave the place and it’s a little bit better than when we arrived, then we’ve fulfilled our role as custodians. That’s a life project, I guess.’
While the grief over his father’s death is still raw enough, in those rolling hills and stone walls, the essence of Lord Henry remains.
‘His legacy lives on,’ Alex says. ‘Dad certainly left his mark and that will be here for ever more.
‘He started stuff that shaped Slane’s future and that’s why I’m still here and hopefully that will continue for many generations to come.’
The Traitors Ireland series two continues on RTÉ One at 9.30pm on Sundays, Mondays and Tuesdays and the RTÉ Player
