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BOOK REVIEW BY WILLIAM CROSS, FSA SCOT OF "LADY ALMINA AND THE REAL DOWNTON ABBEY"

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                       Lady Almina and the Real Downton Abbey        By Fiona Carnarvon    Hodder & Stoughton (2011) A REVIEW OF THE ABOVE BOOK BY WILLIAM CROSS, FSA SCOT  We should know our betters :  know that the toffs will not ever be transparent.  They will only tell you what they want you to know and to minimise the scandal they will painfully minimise the accuracy.  The book does have an attractive front cover but it’s the content that counts.  It’s all another instance of Herbert history repeating itself.  There is already a less than honourable pile up of Carnarvon-family scribes who put their heavy-handed gloss on the accuracy regarding past members of the clan.  Elsie, the second  4th Countess of Carnarvon, rigorously controlled and censored the posthumous biography of Henry, the 4th Earl of Carnarvon, a notable Victorian politician ...
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Almina, Countess of Carnarvon: 150th Anniversary Of Her Birth In 1876

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    The Life and Secrets of Almina Carnarvon  A candid biography of Almina, 5th Countess of  Carnarvon  of Tutankhamun Fame (1876-1969)    By William Cross, FSA Scot   Today, 14 April 2026, is the 150 th anniversary of the birth of Almina, Victoria, Marie, Alexandra Wombwell, later 5 th Countess of Carnarvon, chatelaine for almost 30 years of Highclere Castle, famous as the backdrop to film and TV’s Downton Abbey. The book “ The Life and Secrets of Almina Carnarvon” is a full length, remarkably candid, biography of  this lady, the widow of George Edward Stanhope Molyneux Herbert, 5th Earl of Carnarvon, co-discoverer with Howard Carter of the great Tomb of Tutakhamun, in 1922. Written chronologically in time scale straddling Almina's nine tumultuous  decades of life, from the 1870s, until the 1960s, the book is based on a close study of newspapers, letters, diaries, testimonials, and references to the Countess, and her circle in s...
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BOOKS FROM WILLIAM CROSS, FSA SCOT OF NEWPORT SOUTH WALES UK

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  BOOKS FROM WILLIAM CROSS, FSA SCOT  OF NEWPORT, SOUTH WALES,  UK WILLIAM CROSS, FSA SCOT BOOKS BY WILLIAM CROSS, FSA Scot ·                       The Life and Secrets of Almina Carnarvon.  Book Midden Publishing   ISBN 9781905914081 . 2011. ·                     The Dustbin Case : Dennistoun v Dennistoun.  Book Midden Publishing   ISBN 9781905914043  .2012. ·                     Lordy! Tutankhamun's Patron As A Young Man.   Book Midden Publishing   ISBN 9781905914050  2012. ·                     A Beautiful Nuisance : The Life and Deat...
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ABOUT WILLIAM CROSS, FSA SCOT : BRITISH WRITER

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  ABOUT WILLIAM CROSS, FSA SCOT   BRITISH   WRITER   WILLIAM CROSS, FSA SCOT William Cross, FSA Scot is a writer and researcher whose speciality is biography. He is the author of a number of books on British Society figures, including Almina, 5th Countess of Carnarvon, (1876-1969), George Edward Stanhope Molyneux Herbert, the 5th Earl of Carnarvon ( of Tutankhamun fame ), the Honourable Gwyneth Ericka Morgan (1895-1924) and the Honourable Evan Frederic Morgan, ( 1893-1949), the last Viscount Tredegar, the last two mentioned being members of the Morgan family of Tredegar House, Newport, Gwent.  Cross has also written   long biographical sketches of the American, Catherine Wendell ( 1900-1977) and the Austrian dancer, Tilly Losch (1904-1975), the two wives of Henry George Alfred Marius Victor Francis Herbert ( 1898-1987), 6th Earl of Carnarvon.    In addition Cross has written two books on Prince Victor Duleep Singh ( 1866-1918), the eldest so...
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