All About Saoirse Kennedy Hill's Irish Childhood — and Her Trip Back to Ireland Before Overdose

Saoirse Kennedy Hill’s roots grew deep in Eire, where her father was born and where she spent part of her childhood.

The 22-year-old granddaughter of Robert F. Kennedy and solely daughter of Courtney Kennedy Hill and Paul Hill, Saoirse died Aug. 1 of an accidental drug and alcohol overdose, slicing brief a life that stretched across the Atlantic Ocean — from the Kennedy’s storied household compound in Massachusetts to the Emerald Isle.

Although born in the USA, Saoirse moved together with her mother and father to Hill’s native Ireland at 4 years previous, uncle Robert F. Kennedy Jr. stated in a shifting eulogy given at her funeral.

There the family settled in Fanore, Courtney advised Irish radio station RTE in Might. A small coastal village, Fanore is part of the Gaeltacht, an Irish-speaking group with lengthy stretches of sandy seashores well-liked with walkers and surfers.

“We received to go to the ocean each day,” Courtney stated on RTE.

“I’d been to Eire so much and I all the time fell in love with it, it all the time felt like house,” she stated. “As a result of Paul was here and Saoirse was only four, it appeared like a great time to return over and have the ability to do this, and it was fabulous.”

Life in Fanore, where Saoirse attended main faculty, was simple, as the village provided only one shop, one publish office and one pub.

“You’d take no notice of them,” an area advised PEOPLE this summer time. “There have been identical to anybody else.”

The family made some lasting reminiscences: The Irish singer Luka Bloom has said that Hill, a good friend, inspired his music “Thank You for Bringing Me Here” with a narrative of walking on the seashore in Fanore with a younger Saoirse.

RELATED: Saoirse Kennedy Hill ‘Had Her Demons’ but She ‘Tried Not to Let Them Rule Her’

The family quickly moved about 16 miles south to Lahinch, a slightly extra bustling city boasting outlets, pubs, eating places and motels frequented by Courtney, with Saoirse in tow.

Different residents stated the mom and daughter match into the group nicely and have been typically spotted consuming at eating places and looking for presents to send back to America at Kenny’s Woolen Mills, a clothes retailer.

“She was as widespread as muck. There were no airs about here. What you see is what you get,” one townsperson informed PEOPLE of Courtney. “She’s a stunning individual and she or he and Saoirse have been all the time collectively. … Saoirse was an exquisite woman. She had a great deal of associates.”

Courtney and Paul reportedly divorced after a 2006 separation (although Courtney has insisted they continue to be collectively), and Saoirse’s childhood in Ireland ended: Her uncle stated she left Ireland at eight years previous. However she stayed in contact with associates there and visited them on what is believed to be her remaining trip to Eire, throughout her spring break from Boston School in 2018, Courtney informed RTE.

“She has shut pals in Lahinch and she or he stays with a household there,” family good friend Tony McGann advised PEOPLE. “She was very close to Eire.”

Saoirse additionally made time to visit together with her paternal grandmother, Lily, in addition to Dot Tubridy, who passed shortly after her 2018 journey. Tubridy was an in depth household pal and Courtney’s godmother and popularized the tradition of the Waterford crystal bowl of shamrocks the White Home receives annually.

“Saoirse was in all probability more Irish in some ways. She may need been higher off staying here,” McGann informed PEOPLE, adding that he believed spending time together with her grandmother provided an escape for Saoirse from the high-profile and baggage of the Kennedy identify.

RELATED: Saoirse Kennedy Hill Buried After Emotional Funeral Service with Eulogy from RFK Jr.

“She may need been interested in that life. They're pretty individuals with no pretensions,” McGann stated of Eire. “She might join. She felt very near them.”

He also noted that Saoirse’s grandmother Lily, a “fantastic lady,” had weathered earlier troubles. Hill, her son, who was born in Belfast, was one of many “Guildford 4.” He was wrongly imprisoned for 15 years, starting when he was 20 years previous, after he was wrongfully convicted in collection of fatal IRA bombings in England.

After Saoirse’s dying, Lily reportedly said, “We’re in deep shock. She was a stunning woman. I don’t understand how Paul and Courtney are going to deal with it.”

Saoirse was 8 when she met some of her Kennedy cousins for the first time, on Cape Cod.

In his eulogy, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. fondly recalled his youngsters assembly Saoirse, whom he described as “an lovable, flaxen-haired Irish sprite, with sparkling eyes, peeling laughter and a thick brogue.”

“Saoirse’s heart was on the sea,” he stated. “She thought-about herself a citizen of Eire and America, however most of all, the borderless, boundless oceans.”

A nod to her heritage was included within the packages at her memorial, which included a reworked model of the normal Irish music “When Irish Eyes Are Smiling.”

Together with a smiling photograph of her bobbing within the water, Saoirse’s identify — which suggests “freedom” in Gaelic — was substituted into the track’s lyrics.

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