Ep. 079: The Real Downton Abbey

Guest: Lady Fiona, Countess of Carnarvon and author

Lady Fiona is the current Countess of Carnarvon.

She is also a historian and the author of "Lady Almina" – the woman whose real-life story formed the basis of the popular TV show "Downton Abbey."

The real is even more fascinating than the fictional Downton Abbey. Almina was the illegitimate daughter of Alfred de Rothschild and would have been shut out of British society, were it not for her father’s position and money. Lady Fiona says, "When he launched Almina into society, he wanted her to have the chance of marrying into society. I've got a contract in the castle archives – the real, bound copy. The contract is a marriage contract between Lord Carnarvon, Alfred de Rothschild and Almina Carnarvon. And the Earl of Carnarvon was practical; he wasn't going to marry for money but there's a very good Jane Austen line that goes, 'It would be foolish to marry without money.'"

Over the course of their marriage, Lady Almina transformed Highclere Castle into one of the great party houses of all time. When war broke out in 1914, she poured her father’s resources into transforming the castle into a hospital for wounded soldiers. She quickly realized that the need surpassed the estate’s capacity. Employing her father’s wealth, Lady Fiona says, "She leases a big building in London near where all the doctors are operating on Harley Street and opens it as Lady Carnarvon's London Hospital. She carries on with that until the end of the war. After her father's death she then opens a subsequent hospital in London called Alfred's House, in memory of her father and she runs it until 1941."

Her marriage to the Earl of Carnarvon was rich and diverse and it includes the richest archaeological discovery ever. Working with Howard Carter, the Earl funded and joined in the discovery of the Tomb of Tutankhamun.