, County Offaly, seat of the Earls of Rosse Lord Rosse was the eldest son of
Laurence Michael Harvey Parsons, 6th Earl of Rosse, and
Anne (née Messel, mother of
Antony Armstrong-Jones, 1st Earl of Snowdon by an earlier marriage). Lord Rosse was educated at
Eton College,
Aiglon College,
University of Grenoble and
Christ Church, Oxford. He was an officer in the
Irish Guards from 1955–57 and worked for the
United Nations from 1963–80. He succeeded his father in 1979. He lives at
Birr Castle,
County Offaly. From his birth until he succeeded to the earldom in 1979, he was known as
Lord Oxmantown. From 1979 to 2007, Lord and Lady Rosse facilitated many decades of research by A. P. W. Malcomson, former director of the
Public Record Office of Northern Ireland, and latterly sponsored by the
Irish Manuscripts Commission, to enable the production, for the first time, of a comprehensive Calendar of the Rosse Papers in 2008. The archive is held in the Muniment Room of
Birr Castle. The Calendar is of great value to researchers delving into the history of the Parsons family, the English settlement of the Irish midlands in the 17th century, the Williamite wars, early Irish nationalism, the
Royal Navy in the eighteenth century, nineteenth-century science and astronomy, and the fate of the Irish
landed gentry in the early twentieth century. Lord Rosse appeared in
Great British Railway Journeys,
Antiques Road Trip and in an episode of
Lords & Ladies that focused on Birr Castle. His wife, Alison Parsons, Countess of Rosse, and his children Lady Alicia Clements and Michael Parsons, also appeared in this programme. He was awarded an Honorary Doctorate in Law by Trinity College in 2005 and in 2014 he was elected an honorary fellow of
Trinity College Dublin. ==Marriage and children==