Michael Fassbender: ‘Home support takes my breath away’

Hollywood actor Michael Fassbender said he was proud to be home as he was presented with his hometown’s highest award, The Order of Inisfallen, at a special reception at Muckross House, Killarney, last night.

Fassbender — accompanied by his partner, the Oscar-winning actress Alicia Vikander, and his parents Adele and Josef — was led by a piper into the formal drawing room of the historic lakeside house where Queen Victoria stayed in 1861 during a visit to Killarney.

In an emotional acceptance speech, the 39-year-old, who was born in Heidelberg in Germany, recalled how his family — his father Josef and his Co Antrim mother Adele — were “actually immigrants”.