Lady Almina

How many of you are fans of the television show, Downton Abbey, the Masterpiece Classic series on public television?
Although Cora Crawley,  Countess of Grantham, is a fictional character,
there was a real life woman who is the subject of a book,  Lady Almina and the real Downton Abbey: the Lost Legacy of Highclere Castle by  the Countess of Carnarvon.


Highclere Castle is the real name of the estate where Downton Abbey was filmed.

The fictional Cora was the daughter of a wealthy American. Lady Almina was the daughter of Lord Alfred Rothschild, whose wealth made the marriage possible.

Here is a sample:

"On Wednesday 26 June 1895, Miss Almina Victoria Marie Alexandra Wombwell, a startling pretty nineteen-year-old of somewhat dubious social standing, married George Edward Stanhope Molyneux Herbert, the 5th Earl of Carnarvon, at St. Margaret's, Westminster."

This title  is an interesting choice for high school students with an interest in British history.

Almina's husband, Lord Carnarvon, had financed Howard Carter's exploration in Egypt and the discovery of King Tutankhamun's tomb.  So this book contains information about that as well.