Randal Alexander McDonnell, 10th Earl of Antrim DL (born 2 July 1967), previously known as Viscount Dunluce, is a Northern Irish landowner, with an estate based at Glenarm Castle, and a City of London businessman, chairman of Sarasin & Partners LLP a subsidiary of J. Safra Sarasin. He is also a Deputy Lieutenant of County Antrim.
Early life and education The only son of Alexander McDonnell, 9th Earl of Antrim,Peter W. Hammond, ed., The Complete Peerage or a History of the House of Lords and All its Members From the Earliest Times, Volume XIV: Addenda & Corrigenda (Stroud: Sutton Publishing, 1998), page 31 and a grandson of the sculptor Angela Sykes,Marie Louise McConville, Earl of Antrim's funeral to take place in Glenarm next week, The Irish News, 6 August 2021, accessed 3 July 2022 the present Lord Antrim was educated at Gresham's School and Worcester College, Oxford,Burke's Peerage, vol. 1 (1999), p. 90"DUNLUCE, Viscount" in Lucy Hume, ed., Debrett's People of Today (London: Debrett's, 2017), p. 1882 where he graduated in Modern History.The Earl of Antrim, highcouncilofclandonald.com, accessed 3 July 2022 He is the nephew of the artist Hector McDonnell.Pamela Ballantine, "Pam's People: Artist Hector McDonnell sees big picture", Belfast Telegraph, April 12, 2015, accessed 3 July 2022
Career After Oxford, Dunluce, as he then was, embarked on a career in asset management in the City of London. In 1992, when he was twenty-five, his father put him in charge of the Glenarm Castle estate, and in that role he invested in Glenarm Shorthorn Beef, Glenarm Organic Salmon and hydroelectric power. Glenarm Castle was first built in 1603 by Antrim's ancestor Randal MacSorley MacDonnell.Richard Pococke, John McVeagh, Richard Pococke's Irish Tours (Irish Academic Press, 1995), p. 212Mark Bence-Jones, Burke's Guide to Country Houses: Volume I, Ireland (1978), p. 135
He was an investment manager at NCL Investments from 1993 to 1997. In 1998 he began to work at Sarasin & Partners LLP, where he has been chairman since 2008,The Waterlow Stock Exchange Yearbook: Incorporating Crawfords Directory (London: Waterlow Professional Publishing, 1 April 2009, ), p. 1/17 taking responsibility for the investment mandates of the firm's largest customers and its charitable endowments. He managed the creation of the Sarrasin presence in Dublin and is also a non-executive director of Aberdeen Standard Asia Focus PLC."Randal Dunluce", Spear's Wealth Management Survey, accessed 15 September 2023 In 2002, he was a member of three London clubs, the Savile, the Turf, and the Beefsteak."DUNLUCE, Viscount Randal Alexander St John McDonnell" in Sara Foster, Zoe Gullen, eds., Debrett's People of Today (London: Debrett's, 2002), p. 568
In December 2013, as Dunluce, he was appointed a Deputy Lieutenant for County Antrim.Susan Morris, Debrett's Peerage and Baronetage 2019 (2020), p. 1553Deputy Lieutenant Commissions, The Belfast Gazette, 31 January 2014, Notice ID: B-7586-1
When his father died on 21 July 2021, Antrim inherited the earldom, subsidiary titles and estates.
In November 2021, Antrim, Edwin Poots, and local children planted the first trees of 350 hectares of new native woodland on Antrim's estate at Glenarm Forest. Poots, who was then Northern Ireland's Minister of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs, announced this as Northern Ireland's first Queen's Commonwealth Canopy forest conservation project.Kathleen O'Sullivan, "Glenarm Forest is NI’s first accredited QCC forest conservation project", agriland.co.uk, 9 November 2021, accessed 3 July 2022
Marriage and children Lord Antrim married Aurora Gunn in 2004. Lady Antrim is a documentary filmmaker and member of the board of the Royal Parks."New Members appointed to the board of The Royal Parks", Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, accessed 28 July 2022
They have two children:
Alexander David Somerled McDonnell, Viscount Dunluce (born 30 June 2006), heir apparent to the earldom. Lady Helena Maeve Aurora McDonnell (born 19 February 2008)
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