TO look at Highclere Castle, an Egyptian sarcophagus is probably the last thing you'd expect to find inside. Yet, below Charles Barry's tower and the Reynolds paintings inside lies a perfect replica of a 3,000-year-old coffin belonging to a pharaoh. Highclere Castle, six miles from Newbury, Berkshire, is now best known as the location of the Sunday-night toff-buster Downton Abbey, but, a century ago, it obtained fame of another kind. On November 26, 1922, its then owner George Herbert, 5th Earl of Carnarvon, alongside his daughter Lady Evelyn Herbert and the archaeologist Howard Carter, stood in front of the door of the boy pharaoh Tutankhamun's tomb in the Valley of the Kings.
Since then, Carter has been celebrated as the great discoverer of Tutankhamun and Carnarvon reduced to merely the financier. In this centenary year, the current Earl and Countess of Carnarvon-the 8th Earl, great-grandson of the 5th, and his wife, author of an upcoming biography of the 5th Earlare determined to give their forebear his time in the limelight. When we meet, on an exceptionally busy day at Highclere, complete with visiting public, fire alarms and bounding labradors, the first thing is to establish exactly what kind of man the 5th Earl was.
Denne historien er fra August 10, 2022-utgaven av Country Life UK.
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Denne historien er fra August 10, 2022-utgaven av Country Life UK.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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Kitchen garden cook - Apples
'Sweet and crisp, apples are the epitome of autumn flavour'
The original Mr Rochester
Three classic houses in North Yorkshire have come to the market; the owner of one inspired Charlotte Brontë to write Jane Eyre
Get it write
Desks, once akin to instruments of torture for scribes, have become cherished repositories of memories and secrets. Matthew Dennison charts their evolution
'Sloes hath ben my food'
A possible paint for the Picts and a definite culprit in tea fraud, the cheek-suckingly sour sloe's spiritual home is indisputably in gin, says John Wright
Souvenirs of greatness
FOR many years, some large boxes have been stored and forgotten in the dark recesses of the garage. Unpacked last week, the contents turned out to be pots: some, perhaps, nearing a century old—dense terracotta, of interesting provenance.
Plants for plants' sake
The garden at Hergest Croft, Herefordshire The home of Edward Banks The Banks family is synonymous with an extraordinary collection of trees and shrubs, many of which are presents from distinguished friends, garnered over two centuries. Be prepared to be amazed, says Charles Quest-Ritson
Capturing the castle
Seventy years after Christian Dior’s last fashion show in Scotland, the brand returned under creative director Maria Grazia Chiuri for a celebratory event honouring local craftsmanship, the beauty of the land and the Auld Alliance, explains Kim Parker
Nature's own cathedral
Our tallest native tree 'most lovely of all', the stately beech creates a shaded environment that few plants can survive. John Lewis-Stempel ventures into the enchanted woods
All that money could buy
A new book explores the lost riches of London's grand houses. Its author, Steven Brindle, looks at the residences of plutocrats built by the nouveaux riches of the late-Victorian and Edwardian ages
In with the old
Diamonds are meant to sparkle in candlelight, but many now gather dust in jewellery boxes. To wear them today, we may need to reimagine them, as Hetty Lintell discovers with her grandmother's jewellery
