Catherine Celinda Leopoldine FitzGerald, formerly Catherine Lambton, Viscountess Lambton, (born 18 May 1971) is an Irish landscape designer and gardener. She and her husband,

Dominic West Dominic Gerard Francis Eagleton West (born 15 October 1969) is an English actor, director and musician. He is best known for playing Jimmy McNulty in HBO's ''The Wire'' (2002–2008), Noah Solloway in Showtime's '' The Affair'' (2014–2019), t ...

, also operate her ancestral home,

Glin Castle Glin Castle is a Georgian country house and national heritage site located along the River Shannon in Glin, County Limerick, Glin, County Limerick, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The castle has belonged to the FitzGerald dynasty, FitzMaurice/Fit ...

, as a small hotel and event venue.

Early life and family

Catherine FitzGerald was born on 18 May 1971. She is a member of the

FitzGerald dynasty The FitzGerald/FitzMaurice Dynasty is a noble and aristocratic dynasty of Cambro-Norman, Anglo-Norman and later Hiberno-Norman origin. They have been peers of Ireland since at least the 13th century, and are described in the Annals of the ...

, an Anglo-Norman, later Hiberno-Norman,

aristocratic Aristocracy (, ) is a form of government that places strength in the hands of a small, privileged ruling class, the aristocrats. The term derives from the el, αριστοκρατία (), meaning 'rule of the best'. At the time of the word's ...

dynasty that originated in the

Welsh Marches The Welsh Marches ( cy, Y Mers) is an imprecisely defined area along the border between England and Wales in the United Kingdom. The precise meaning of the term has varied at different periods. The English term Welsh March (in Medieval Latin ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

and

Normandy Normandy (; french: link=no, Normandie ; nrf, Normaundie, Nouormandie ; from Old French , plural of ''Normant'', originally from the word for "northman" in several Scandinavian languages) is a geographical and cultural region in Northwestern ...

. Her father,

Desmond FitzGerald, 29th Knight of Glin Desmond John Villiers FitzGerald, 29th Knight of Glin (13 July 1937 – 14 September 2011)
rte.ie; accessed 1 May 2016. ...

, was the last

Knight of Glin The Knight of Glin (; dormant 14 September 2011), also known as the Black Knight or Knight of the Valley, was a hereditary title held by the FitzGerald and FitzMaurice families of County Limerick, Ireland, since the early 14th century. The fam ...

, as the title could only descend in the male line, and she has two sisters, Honor and Nesta. She grew up at her family's ancestral home,

, in

Glin, County Limerick Glin () is a village in the northwest of County Limerick, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is on the south shore of the River Shannon's estuary, on the N69 road (Ireland), N69 road between Foynes and Tarbert, Kerry, Tarbert. The population of th ...

. Her godfather was

Christopher Gibbs Christopher Henry Gibbs (29 July 1938 – 28 July 2018) was a British antiques dealer and collector who was also an influential figure in men's fashion and interior design in 1960s London. He has been credited with inventing Swinging London, an ...

. FitzGerald attended St Mary's Calne and

Trinity College Dublin , name_Latin = Collegium Sanctae et Individuae Trinitatis Reginae Elizabethae juxta Dublin , motto = ''Perpetuis futuris temporibus duraturam'' (Latin) , motto_lang = la , motto_English = It will last i ...

Career

FitzGerald works as a landscape designer and gardener in Ireland and the United Kingdom; she shares a studio with landscape architect Mark Lutyens in London. She has worked as a freelance writer on landscaping and gardening for '' House & Garden'', '' The Garden'', ''Interiors Magazine'', and ''

The Telegraph ''The Telegraph'', ''Daily Telegraph'', ''Sunday Telegraph'' and other variant names are popular names for newspapers. Newspapers with these titles include: Australia * ''The Telegraph'' (Adelaide), a newspaper in Adelaide, South Australia, publ ...

''. FitzGerald has worked on the gardens at her family's home, Glin Castle, and has also worked on landscaping projects at

Hillsborough Castle Hillsborough Castle is an official government residence in Northern Ireland. It is the official residence of the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland,

, Lansdowne Crescent, Clarendon Park,

Holland Park Avenue Holland Park Avenue is a street located in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, in west central London. The street runs from Notting Hill Gate in the east to the Holland Park Roundabout in the west, forms a part of the old west road ...

Glenarm Castle Glenarm Castle, Glenarm, County Antrim, Northern Ireland, is the ancestral home of the Earl of Antrim. History There has been a castle at Glenarm since the 13th century, where it resides at the heart of one of Northern Ireland's oldest estates. ...

, and St Olav's Church.

Personal life

FitzGerald married Edward Lambton, Viscount Lambton, the future 7th Earl of Durham, on 19 October 1995. They divorced in 2002. She married

, whom she had dated while at Trinity College, on 26 June 2010 in a Catholic ceremony at the Church of the Immaculate Conception in

Limerick Limerick ( ; ga, Luimneach ) is a western city in Ireland situated within County Limerick. It is in the province of Munster and is located in the Mid-West which comprises part of the Southern Region. With a population of 94,192 at the 2016 ...

. She and West have four children. FitzGerald and West own a town house in

Shepherd's Bush Shepherd's Bush is a district of West London, England, within the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham west of Charing Cross, and identified as a major metropolitan centre in the London Plan. Although primarily residential in character, i ...

, London, a home in the Cotswolds, and share ownership of Glin Castle with her sister.

Glin Castle

In 2011, FitzGerald’s father died and since her father had no male heirs, the hereditary knighthood of Glin became extinct. FitzGerald, along with her mother and sisters, decided to sell the estate through an auction at

Christie’s Christie's is a British auction house founded in 1766 by James Christie (auctioneer), James Christie. Its main premises are on King Street, St James's in London, at Rockefeller Center in New York City and at Alexandra House in Hong Kong. It is ...

. The castle, which had operated in the hospitality trade, did not sell, so FitzGerald and West, along with FitzGerald's sisters, bought it in order to keep it in the family. They split their time between Glin Castle and their home in London. FitzGerald and West first operated the castle as a ''bed and breakfast'' and now run it as a hotel and event venue.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:FitzGerald, Catherine 20th-century Irish women 21st-century Irish women 1971 births Living people Alumni of Trinity College Dublin Normans in Ireland Lambton British landscape and garden designers

Catherine Katherine, also spelled Catherine, and other variations are feminine names. They are popular in Christian countries because of their derivation from the name of one of the first Christian saints, Catherine of Alexandria. In the early Christ ...

Irish gardeners Irish nobility People from County Limerick Women horticulturists and gardeners