New Book: Lies, Damned Lies and the Carnarvons of Highclere Castle

 

Lies, Damned Lies and the Carnarvons

Compiled by William Cross, FSA Scot

Published 1 September 2022

“Some books are lies frae end tae end”  Robert Burns

In this new offering  William Cross, FSA Scot  ( author of several  books on the Carnarvon family of Highclere Castle)  drills down to reveal the tissue of  lies, misrepresentations and bad history  in the timeline and narrative  in  the discovery of the Tomb of  Tutankhamun.

 

Among the lies flushed out  is the chronology of the  near fatal car accident in Germany that was deemed the reason Lord Carnarvon  first went to Egypt, discredited here with  the real influence given  for the Earl taking up digging for Royal tombs.

 

The funding for  many  years  work  in the sand dunes at Luxor from the Countess Almina’s access to  Alfred de  Rothschild’s money  rightly  celebrates what Almina brought to the discovery, but why did Rothschild pay up when he was certainly NOT her father ( as claimed by Highclere)?

 

The reality  of the 20- year  relationship  between Lord Carnarvon and his devoted physician ‘Dr Johnny’ is revealed – in  old age the  doctor’s tongue was too loose for comfort that  he  was shipped off to a lunatic asylum.

 

Other lies surround  Lord Carnarvon’s alliance with Howard Carter .  Were they an item?    

 

Not least is the mystery  surrounding the circumstances of Carnarvon’s  death in a hotel room in  Cairo after a mosquito bite.   Unconscious, dying, with the Great Sword of Damocles hanging over him until his wife Almina,  the nurse,  arrived with a bag full of morphine.

 

As the centenary  of the great find approaches  on 4 November 2022,  it demands  that  any  incorrect  elements  in the  historical record are  expunged.  

 

Truth  matters!

HOW TO GET THE BOOK

 

£10.00 ( INC P&P UK)   DIRECT FROM THE AUTHOR. PLEASE EMAIL     williecross@aol.com

 

He will then send you details of how to pay for the book by Bank Transfer

 

Amazon link :  https://amzn.to/3fJMj93

 

Ebay link : https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/204089212208

 

 

ISBN 10 1905914776  ISBN 13 9781905914777

Published by William P. Cross

Book Midden Publishing

CONTACT WILLIAM CROSS BY EMAIL FOR DETAILS

williecross@aol.com

Endorsements:  Dr Nicholas Reeves (British Egyptologist)  : “ I have followed your new dating in my book  ‘The Complete Tutankhamun’, and also your remarks on Carnarvon's health.”

 

Dr Carola Vogel (German Egyptologist):   “Be assured, I will support your  investigations into the date of Lord Carnarvon’s motor car  accident in Germany  and try to convince my colleagues to change their minds!” 

 

Professor Brian Fagan  ( Author or "Lord and Pharaoh: Carnarvon and the Search for Tutankhamun" ( 2015). )  “I hope that it is a success for you.” 

FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT THE AUTHOR WILLIAM CROSS BY EMAIL

williecross@aol.com

 

Highclere Castle Insider : Rev. H. David Sox
“The Man Who Knew Too Much”

The Carnarvons of Highclere (Downton Abbey) know a thing or two about raising revenue to pay for fixing dry rot, damp patches and mending the proverbial leak in the roof.

The exposure of the Herbert family’s Highclere Castle as the back drop to the well known TV/ film epics  Downton Abbey has increased its coffers on a grand scale.

In the late 1980s Highclere first opened its doors to the public with a flurry of excitement and neat timing about previously unknown Tutankhamun artefacts. The 5th Earl was of course co-discoverer with Howard Carter of the tomb of the boy King.

Later in the 1990s Highclere’s then incumbents, the 7th Earl of Carnarvon, better known as Lord Porchester, the Queen’s Racing Manager, together with his American Countess wife, Jeanie Wallop, were keen to attract American visitors, with American dollars, to their Berkshire Estate.

With a reputation for forking out mega bucks to hear all about the English gentry’s life style, past and present, it was a sure money spinner to seek and aim at Americans craving oldy world history and offer them lavish pampering, supreme hospitality and the high life's hunting, shooting and fishing. So grabbing the huge American tourist market became part of Highclere’s business plan.

What better sweetener for the would be visitors from New York, Los Angeles and Wyoming than for a fellow American to act as the house guide to receive them. The guide had to be someone who stood out as suave, articulate, personable, witty, equally attractive to the eye and ear. It all made perfect business sense.

Enter Rev. H. David Sox as Highclere’s resident history expert in the 1990s.

The idea worked, the Americans came and for several years this man Sox continued as one of Highclere’s most popular insider figures above and below the Castle’s hierarchy, respected by the 7th Earl and Countess, adored by visitors and liked if not more often revered by other Highclere staff.

Sox was a part-time clergyman, author of books on the Shroud of Turin, and an art aficionado. He oozed self- importance and had an inherent ruthlessness that made him reach out for any opportunity to raise his own reputation and notoriety.

That opportunity came when Sox approached the 7th Earl about writing a biography of Almina, Countess of Carnarvon, the Earl’s beloved ‘granny’ – the widow of the 5th Earl of Old King Tut fame.

The idea of Sox’s biography received the green light. He was given unfettered access to Highclere Archives, and although Almina had died aged 93, in 1969, there were many people still alive who knew her and numerous sources to tap into about her extraordinary life and times.

Sox’s work was exhaustive and thorough. Then a bomb dropped upon him when he made an startling discovery in the Archives about a family scandal that, if true, could have monumental consequences to undermine the Herbert family’s succession.

Sox realised he was the man who knew too much. What was he to do with his secret?

The nature of what David Sox found in the Archives and what he did with the information has lain festering in the long grass for 25 years. Now in the run up to the Tutankhamun centenary it is time to reopen this other tomb with an examination of Rev. H. David Sox, his life’s work, research and legacy and revisit and update the facts with reflections on the circumstances that forced him to abandon the Almina project – that led to Highclere burying the proposed biography.

In the long aftermath of David Sox’s study and discovery in Highclere Archives, the unpublished biography of Almina has tantalised and teased  various researchers, journalists and even TV companies, and Sox frequently pursued for enquiry, comment and the hidden truth.

Only the Society author William Cross, FSA Scot has revealed in past publications, the nature of Sox’s find and Highclere’s quandary. Sox died in 2016, leaving behind fears of a wider disclosure. He has left behind much confusion but still unanswered questions about his original discovery. Who knows the truth? Who is willing to tell what they know? Who is too scared ?

It is time to settle this part of Highclere’s history once and for all.

E-MAIL ALL ENQUIRIES ABOUT THIS POSTING

 

williecross@aol.com