We start our publication’s journey with a grand Hampshire estate. A castle which has prospered as the celebrated seat of the Carnarvon family since 1679. A sprawling country home, with grounds once the setting for summer cricket matches attended by the British Royal Family and renowned stables which fostered HM Queen Elizabeth’s equestrian devotions. An estate with a belly brimming with Egyptian treasures, relics of a bygone travel era when the fifth Earl of Carnarvon excavated the tomb of Tutankhamun. And, of course, home to extraordinary countesses – the Ladies of Carnarvon – who fortified the Highclere Castle’s legacy over centuries as a cherished stage to English history.
Lady Almina was the illustrious Countess of Carnarvon who opened Highclere doors to wounded soldiers during the First World War, transforming the opulent interior into a convalescent home for recovery from the trenches.
It was later the alluring, velvet-slippered American pearl of London society, Lady Catherine, whose lavish country parties remain as fabled today as her plight in rescuing the castle from financial ruin in the 1920s. Her glamorous portrait oversees one of Highclere’s parlours today, evoking the enigma for which she is remembered.
The chatelaine in charge thereafter was Lady Jean Margaret Wallop, a beloved Countess of Carnarvon, whose enduring friendship with Queen Elizabeth allowed Highclere to act as a royal Hampshire retreat. Her son George Herbert is the current and eighth Earl of Carnarvon, and also Her Majesty’s godson. A framed photo of the monarch holding George in his christening gown stands nostalgically in the foyer.
Today it is George’s wife and current Countess of Carnarvon at the helm, Lady Fiona Carnarvon, who guided Highclere Castle and its staff through one of Britain’s most remarkable periods of uncertainty.
“It was an extraordinary learning curve,” Lady Carnarvon said of harnessing social media to carry on the estate’s business during the global pandemic. “It’s like setting off down a ski slope and we didn’t even have the time to see whether it’s red, blue or black.”
Lady Carnarvon, with her marvellous analogies and warmth of humble nobility, is as enchanting in conversation as she is when speaking to Highclere Castle’s audience. From narrating winter rambles with her dogs across the hazy grounds to sharing the castle’s Jacobethan silhouette to the symphony of birdsong, the Countess embraced digital vessels during lockdown to share intimate moments of daily life managing the estate.
The Countess notes the word estate as slightly outmoded in terms of large houses, which are either businesses or they aren’t going to remain as an estate for that much longer; historical homes must create multiple revenue streams in order to conserve, preserve and endure in modern Britain. Lady Carnarvon cited a great challenge many English estates faced just before the Second World War: a century’s worth of investment deficit which caused the loss of a thousand great houses in the 1950s, leading to the modern running of a stately home today.
In weathering the challenges of the pandemic while maintaining the innumerable duties which come with managing the business of a great home, Lady Carnarvon currently dedicates seven days a week to her role as Countess.
Her mornings often start with a walk across the estate’s grounds with the dogs followed by a sharp descent into the perpetual myriad of everyday tasks: marketing meetings, event creation, transfer of tour tickets, managing staff, press interviews, checking in with the roofers, consulting with plumbers, asking the farm to roll ruts, researching the biodiversity of the property’s birds, filming a video introducing Highclere’s newest lambs, utilising her pre-countess life as an accountant to continually audit the estate budget. By the late afternoon, the Countess of Carnarvon retreats upstairs to write her forthcoming book, and later liaises with her husband ‘Geordie’ over supper on the day’s events and developments in their rose garden.
“We sit where we are for the past 1,200 years and yet, we do need to be a part of change,” Lady Carnarvon said. “As I carry on, I would never swap the experience I’ve had.”
As with any noblewoman, both duty and philanthropy are pillars of the Carnarvon home and family; the latter is perhaps even more the paramount responsibility when the nation is in need. The first part of our conversation was devoted to her speaking of her plans to go forward with the annual Newbury Spring Festival, a marvellous fortnight-long celebration of music established by her mother-in-law 40 years ago. The charity is one of many Carnarvon family legacies the Countess enthusiastically carries on. She is keen to invite NHS doctors and nurses as guests this year, as a way to thank them for their enormous service to the country.
Readers may also recognise the spires of Highclere Castle from a rather magnum opus of costume period dramas set in the early 1900s, Downton Abbey. But for our editor and so many who admire the legacy of Highclere Castle, the heart of the estate is Lady Carnarvon and the extraordinary lineage of brazen countesses which ensured the walls still stand today. In the case of Lady Fiona Carnarvon, duty is punctuated by her perpetual orchestra of ideas, devotion to family legacy and fervent dedication to writing books surrounding the magic of Highclere Castle. As the Lady notes gratefully, she’s never once been lost for a story idea.
“George and I are just stewards, and where I walk across the lawns, someone else did a thousand years ago, someone else did 500 years ago – it’s that sense of continuity which I think is reassuring. It’s like an anchor in a very wibbly wobbly world.”
