A US genealogist believes that the owner of Muckross House who welcomed Queen Victoria to Killarney in 1861 was descended from a slave.
Henry Arthur Herbert was an MP for Kerry and served as Chief Secretary for Ireland.
Henry Arthur Herbert and his wife built Muckross House which is the centrepiece of Killarney National Park.
Mario Valdes has researched the family background of the 19th century owner of Muckross Estate.
He says his work indicates that Herbert was the great great great grandson of a slave woman in Jamaica.
Mr Valdes says a wealthy French planter, John Augier, fathered children with this unnamed woman who was of African origin.
The genealogist says Augier, who died in 1722, made sure that his children by this woman, who were of mixed race, were taken care of financially:
