Prince Victor Duleep Singh
and The Curse of the Carnarvons
OR
The Countess and The Maharajah
Synopsis of a talk by William Cross, FSA Scot
Almina and Victor at Highclere, 1895
Almina Wombwell, the 5th Countess of Carnarvon (1876-1969)
was born in London
on 14 April 1876, but her birth was not registered in England until
four years later. Christened Almina
Victoria Marie Alexandra Wombwell later Herbert, finally Mrs Dennistoun, she
termed herself Almina, Countess of Carnarvon.
Her mother was a pushy Frenchwoman,
her father probably English. Almina’s childhood was spent among the decaying
vestiges of the old French and Spanish aristocrats living in exile. Almina grew up in Paris, spoke fluent French
and was later a debutante in the London
Season of 1893. She lived and loved for
nine decades – married the 5th Earl of Carnarvon in 1895 and then the caddish
Lt. Col Ian Onslow Dennistoun in 1923. Lord Carnarvon died in 1923 (in Egypt). Ian
died in 1938 (in London).
Almina was chatelaine of Highclere
Castle (the back drop to
TV’s Downton Abbey) from 1895 until
1923. Every inch a Countess, Almina
spent a King’s ransom and died a horrendous death in Bristol in 1969.
Victor and George Carnarvon at Highclere, 1895
Prince Victor Duleep Singh (1866-1918)
was born in London
on 10 July 1866. He was the grandson of Maharajah Ranjit Singh of Lahore, the Lion of the Punjab
and the founder of the great Sikh empire.
Victor’s father was also Maharajah of Lahore, although he was brought
up as an English gentleman, as was Victor. The Duleep Singh family history is one that highlights
the “horrors” of the British conquest of India. The prized Koh-i-Noor
diamond was one of the Duleep Singh
assets seized by Queen Victoria’s
agents.
With his handsome half-Indian,
half-European appearance, his mother Bamba
Muller was of German- Abyssinian descent, Victor (nick named ‘Tulip’) stood out
as an attractive male figure in Society circles in Victorian/ Edwardian days, he died in Monte
Carlo in 1918. Educated at Eton College,
Cambridge University & Sandhurst
Miltary Academy,
Victor’s closest life long friend was
George Herbert, 5th Earl of Carnarvon, who married Almina Wombwell
in 1895. George and Victors’s youth and
early adulthood were of the playboy type,
wild & irresponsible, they
were gamblers, risk takers. George’s health was blighted, leading to
consequences that endure for the
Carnarvons to this day.
Almina and the Carnarvon Heir, Henry, Lord Porchester, at Highclere 1899
A secret truth –almost a curse- links
the Countess Almina and the Maharajah Victor together, a
legacy within the British Peerage exposed in books and in a recent TV
documentary. William Cross, FSA Scot (
biographer of Almina), was first to reveal
the secret in his book “ The Life and Secrets of Almina Carnarvon” ( 2011). In this talk Cross offers some of the latest
evidence from his researches that still sends ripples through High Society. In 2022 Will added further analysis of the
whole story in his book “ More on Prince Victor Duleep Singh and the Curse of
the Carnarvons : The Final Twists”.
NB Will’s latest book is “ Lies, Damned
Lies and the Carnarvons” issued for last year’s centenary of the discovery of
Tutankhamun in 1922.
Will
Cross is a retired civil servant, writer & lecturer based in Newport, South Wales. He is
the author of several books on Scottish history, on the Carnarvons of Highclere Castle,
on Tutankhamun, and many on the Morgans of Tredegar House, Newport. Will
has had a long standing interest on Society scandals and cover ups in the
British aristocracy. Contact Will directly about his books, talks etc, at 58, Sutton Road, Newport,
South Wales, NP19 7JF.
E-mail Contact Welcome
willicross@aol.com
The weeping figure of Almina, in black, at the grave of Prince Victor Duleep Singh every summer at Monte Carlo.
“It was a duty undertaken out of respect and regard & perhaps a token of her love”
The Story Has Not Ended…..
Photographs reproduced by permission of the family of the photographer J W Righton of Newbury, Berkshire
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