by Myfannwy Llinos Dawlish-Stapleton

The Earls of Kingston and their family members, like all families, have had their share of colourful characters, but few families could boast the sheer number and extent of their members' reprehensible acts : from low-level scullduggery to unmitigated criminality.  

Throughout the centuries, the Trevelyan-St George family has provided more column inches to the press' gossip articles than any other noble family within the British Realm.  From the very beginning, George, the 1st Earl, set the family's reputation for attracting scandal by his rather lavish, and sometimes too sexualised overtures to Queen Elizabeth I.  He was often present at court as one of Good Queen Bess' favourites, and was frequently seen, "crawling out of the Queen's chamber at the break of dawn, limping with physical exhaustion... grappling with his velvets and furs to maintain his modesty..."

Whatever exertions and extremities to which he pushed his physical limitations, it was whispered by The Royal Court that these 'exercises' served to ingratiate himself with Her Majesty further, resulting in a sizeable advance in reaching the higher echelons of wealth and power - and being the subject of a newly created earldom to boot!  He was rewarded with vast estates in Ireland, Wales and Yorkshire, in all amounting to in excess of 400,000 acres.

"No other aristocrat in Ireland comes close in his levels of sheer richness, power and influence..." reported the Irish Times on George's inaugeration on 1566 at Westminster Abbey.

His attentions to The Virgin Queen, it must be noted, took place approximately five years after his marriage to the fiery Welsh aristocrat, Lady Elizabeth Chomondely-Featherstonehaugh, the marriage had taken place in St David's Cathedral, Pembrokeshire, where, it was reported, the bride had been "marched up the aisle at great speed by her father, who futiley attempted to cover signs of her being heavily with child..." according to an attendee at the wedding.  

Therefore, even at the beginning of the Trevelyan family story, cavorting, philandering and betrayal were the cornerstones laid by the first Earl and Countess of Kingston.

Some eighty years later, we see The Hon. Robert Trevelyan meticulously and callously plan the murder of his elder brother, The Third Earl of Kingston, in order to inherit the title and considerable wealth which would have come to him.  Had he remained undiscovered in his cold-blooded attempt, he would have stood to inherit some seventy million pounds - by today's standards.

The Irish Times reported the main events being disclosed in court of how "The Hon. Robert Trevelyan was situated behind Castletown House's East Lodge at midnight, awaiting the return of his brother, Lord George, who arrived on horseback unaccompanied. In Robert's company was a band of criminals, vagrants and vagabonds, who had already been advanced a considerable sum by Robert, and who were to have the remainder of the payment upon their successfully murdering George."

To make matters worse, the jury heard details of Robert's affair with his brother's wife, The Countess of Kingston.  They were "madly in love, and hardly made any attempt to conceal their feelings."  Lady Elizabeth and Robert were "frequently observed making 'intimate contact' whilst visiting local beauty spots - alone," according to one witness' account.   Lady Elizabeth was also carrying Robert's child at the time - and used this fact to torment her husband that, "being that [his] brother's child will inherit everything, why then not make it a proper line of succession, and bestow the earldom on [his] younger brother by renouncing his own claim?"

As Robert and his mercenaries lay in wait, Eammon and Betsy Miller, the tenats living in The East Lodge, realised that something was wrong, for their dog (named Jesus incidentally) "kept on barking at the estate wall  - " the other side of which squatted the potential murderers.  On finally acquiescing to Jesus' barks, the couple went out in the freezing December air and uncovered the plot.