Free Lady Almina and the Real Downton Abbey by The Countess of Carnarvon

brick courtyard to the west of the Castle housed the small brewery and the riding and carriage horses in large cobbled stables. The carriages were also kept here. The grooms lived in a warren of rooms above, sleeping two to a bedroom, their trunks, full of possessions, at the ends of their beds. Arthur Hayter arrived to take up the position of most junior groom and coachman in 1895. His family were farmers and Arthur’s new job was seen as a definite step up. He loved the horses in his care and could manage them brilliantly, whispering to them when they were upset. There were at least a dozen horses and one groom for each pair so the stables hummed with activity. Arthur reported to head coachman, Henry Brickell, who had driven the just-married couple on their wedding day. Brickell was a longstanding employee and a much trusted, steady man.
    Nobody could possibly have known it, but Highclere was passing into a golden time. Everyone who lived and worked there was caught up in the last spectacular flourishing of a secure existence. The rules were understood by everybody: upstairs and downstairs worlds interacted only in very specific and controlled ways. A new Countess, even one with grand ideas and the cash to carry them out, was unlikely to provoke much lasting change. In 1895 the Empire was at its peak, Queen Victoria was two years away from her Diamond Jubilee, and Britain was, without question, the most prosperous and powerful country in the world. It was a time of peace and progress, of supreme self-belief. The threat to the old ways, as yet scarcely perceived, camenot from any individual upstairs but from the new technology and the bigger political forces reshaping society and the balance of power in Europe.
    If you’d asked Henry Brickell how he felt about the future, though, he might not have been too cheery. His job was increasingly marginalised, in a sign of things to come, by Lord Carnarvon’s passion for gadgets. The 5th Earl was exploring the exciting possibilities offered by the new horsepower – the motor car.

Lady Almina, the 5th Countess of Carnarvon, 1899. (photo credit i1.1)

    Highclere Castle, drawn in 1889. (photo credit i1.2)

    Highclere Castle, present day.

    The Saloon of the Castle c. 1895.

    The State Drawing Room of the Castle c. 1895.

    Henry, the 4th Earl of Carnarvon, in his study at the Castle c. 1870. He was a Cabinet Minister (Secretary of State for the Colonies) in the 1860s under Prime Minister Lord Derby and again in the 1870s in the Government of Benjamin Disraeli. He was responsible for the granting of independence to Canada.

    The 4th Earl of Carnarvon, 1883. (photo credit i1.7)

    Evelyn Herbert, the 4th Countess of Carnarvon, 1874.

    An early portrait of the 5th Earl of Carnarvon. (photo credit i1.9)

    An early portrait of Alfred de Rothschild, Almina’s father. (photo credit i1.10)

    A drawing of Almina Wombwell, before she was married. (photo credit i1.11)

    Alfred de Rothschild, in the late 1800s.

    Almina in the 1890s, probably taken shortly before her marriage.

    Another portrait of Almina just before her wedding in 1895.

    St. Margaret’s Church, where Almina was married to Lord Carnarvon in 1895. (photo credit i1.15)

    A portrait by Paul César Helleu on the occasion of Almina’s wedding, with her married signature. (photo credit i1.16)

    Almina, the 5th Countess of Carnarvon, in full regalia.

6
Dressing for Dinner
    Lord and Lady Carnarvon set out for Christmas at Halton House a week after they had waved off their illustrious house guest, the Prince of Wales. Pleased with each other, themselves and the world, they had no reason to doubt that life would continue in its delightful round of balls, shoots and travels abroad, as far as they both could see. They were looking forward to being thoroughly spoiled by Alfred, who celebrated Christmas in style, despite being Jewish. It was an excuse for a party, and although he wasn’t going to participate in the religious aspects,