Almina, Countess of Carnarvon: 150th Anniversary Of Her Birth In 1876
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...