Emily Naper: ‘I sat next to this very good-looking Irish man. And guess what? He had a rally car. What more d’you want at that age?’

Just Saying

Emily Naper at Loughcrew House in Co Meath

Emily Naper is an entrepreneur and the owner-manager of the historic Loughcrew House in Co Meath, and also owns Manorbier Castle in Wales. She moved to Ireland in the early 1980s, when she married Charles Naper, who died in 2013.

I grew up outside London, in a beautiful house, West Wycombe Park. It’s now part of the National Trust Collection. It was a unique place to grow up in. My father [Sir Francis Dashwood] started one business after the other. He was a very colourful, famous figure – my family started the Hellfire Club in London.