St Michael's Mount time in Britain in the 1930s, when he had proposed an alliance with Nazi Germany, General von Ribbentrop frequently visited Cornwall. In 1954, Francis Cecil St Aubyn, 3rd Baron St Levan gave most of St Michael's Mount to the National Trust, together with a large endowment fund. The St Aubyn family retained a 999-year lease to inhabit the castle and a licence to manage the public viewing of its historic rooms. This is managed in conjunction with the National Trust. The chapel of St Michael, a fifteenth-century building, has an embattled tower, one angle of which is a small turret,
Mount St. Michaels the Boarding School was begun. The current student population numbers about 450. In 1977 a Parents' Council, affiliated to the National Catholic Secondary Parents' Associations (CPSA) was formed. In 1987 a Board of Management was set up, comprising representatives of trustees, teachers and parents. In 1990 a Lay principal was appointed. Since 1977 the school has a Students' Council whose members are elected by students and staff from the Leaving Certificate student group. Mount St. Michael operates a 6-year cycle since 1976 when Transition year was first introduced as a Pilot project by the Department of Education. Mount St. Michaels