TUTANKHAMUN AND LORD CARNARVON
WILL'S BOOK REVIEW OF HIGHCLERE'S MONEY SPINNER
THE EARL AND THE PHARAOH : PUBLISHED 27 OCTOBER 2022
HIGHCLERE SAVING FACE
At the anniversary this week of the discovery of Tutankhamun’s Tomb in 1922 no one can take away the remarkable contribution to Egyptology made by Lord Carnarvon and Howard Carter, or be anything other than astonished by the many thousands of stunning artefacts resulting from the epic search funded by Almina, Carnarvon’s wife and Countess from her access to Rothschild loot.
There are always writers hanging out the constant curios about this never ending story of King Tutankhamun and its various players, and this book from Lord Carnarvon’s successors should be the most authoritative and accurate. But is it?
In parts this book it is at least a more satisfactory volume than earlier ones from Highclere's ghost writers but only thanks to the hard work of others who are not even acknowledged. Indeed this account of Lord Carnarvon of Old King Tut fame ranks as only a face saver with countless corrections to previous offerings by Highclere’s scribes, by utilising facts uncovered by others, ( including this reviewer) and without specific citations, or the smallest contrition for previously pouring out bad ( and often wicked) history.
The Earl’s famous motor car accident in Germany is now admitted as being in 1909, the subject of others research for a decade. The proof of the pudding convincingly made public in 2022 by Dr Carola Vogel, a German Egyptologist in the Gottingen Miscellany ( No 266).
That said the Highclere text does not let go of this accident and perpetuates it as the trigger for Carnarvon spending winters in Egypt. All a smokescreen, the devilish work of the Earl's sister, Lady Winifred Burghclere in her flowery cover up biography of Lord Carnarvon from 1923, in 40- odd- pages of elegant dross that has been slavishly regurgitated by Highclere, and which now stands as a poor legacy of monumental howlers blighting thousands of books and articles ( and history).
The motive for proclaiming an earlier date for Carnarvon’s near death experience in Germany by Lady Winifred ( the Earl’s protective thug ) and of altering history was to deflect away the Earl’s many peccadilloes and health crisis caused by years of debauchery. But this new effort from a chequered army of scribes still follows a selective path of highlighting only what is praiseworthy and so sadly it falls short of portraying George Herbert’s whole life.
Yes, his legacy with Carter for finding a Pharaoh’s tomb has much merit, yes, he took good photographs, yes, he was a successful race horse owner and early pioneer of flying but if this is a biography it should be scrupulously honest by including warts and all.
The book cuts short at any mention of the actual event that led to Carnarvon’s initial digging years ( before he teamed up with Howard Carter). The Countess Almina always said the spark was after a trip to the USA in 1903 by her and the Earl, and their faithful physician Dr Marcus Johnson ( Dr Johnny) and of a chance meeting with Jeremiah Lynch of San Francisco’s Bohemian Club. Lynch was a famous Egyptophile, with his own Mummy in situ, an author and explorer who fired up Carnarvon’s passion for the chance of cashing in on finding undiscovered Royal Tombs in the Valley of the Kings. To thank Lynch the Earl and Almina attended a huge farewell party in Cairo close to the time the Antiquities Service was chewing over on Carnarvon’s request for digging rights.
Egypt was a country George Herbert ( as Lord Porchester) knew well from 1889 onwards. Yes, the climate eased his congenitally diseased lungs and its seedy bath houses provided an avenue for carnal pleasure with his friend Prince Victor Duleep Singh. Whilst Victor does makes a string of appearances in the book any real transparency about the men’s coupling is ditched, nothing is said of Victor’s role in fathering Almina’s son, Henry, a subject of much speculation in books, articles and a recent TV documentary. It could be settled by DNA testing. So quick were the writers to pass on this thorn in the flesh that an error appears at page 100 on Henry’s birth date.
As boys the young Porchey and his adorable and intimate friend Victor ‘Tulip’ Singh broke every school rule book at Eton College, were gambling mad and clocked up colossal debts from money lenders. Here the book is commendable. But much more on this could be cited from the Earl’s father’s diaries ( held by the British Museum) but after the 4th Earl’s death Elsie Howard, the second 4th Countess took a razor blade and removed scores of the pages of the diaries where an entry did not show the family in a proper or decent light. OK, Porchey gave his father a hellava time and worry over his dangerous liaisons, but he was bullied and ignored and wished for dead as the 4th Earl had a more obedient and acceptable son in Aubrey, as the Carnarvon heir.
It is crystal clear that other people’s research carried out and other books and comprehensive narratives that are not acknowledged have steered, shaped, and assisted the narrative presented of Carnarvon’s early years and family and timeline interactions. It was a dysfunctional family – as many aristocratic families are, wet nurses, rearing by servants, harsh female relations, the 4th Earl’s sisters, also bullies.
Other elements of the book are flawed. Almina’s wealth provider Baron Alfred de Rothschild and the Earl’s savour from bankruptcy was not Almina’s father. There is not an iota of proof to sustain the claim. Alfred led a double life and it suited all concerned that Almina became an instant Countess in marrying Carnarvon. Alfred paid up by funding Almina marriage settlement ( incorrectly given at page 78 as 25 June 1866). The manipulative Mr Alfred acquired a ready made family that this allowed him to hide his secret world from scrutiny. Almina’s Wombwell descendants, who are on record as observing Almina’s physical resemblance to other Wombwell women, would be delighted to have the question of blood tested once and for all, another case for DNA testing, the Rothschild bloodline continues on a grand scale. Moreover, a clump of Alfred’s hair is deposited in the Royal Archives for modern science to declare wonderful things.
Admissions about Lord Carnarvon’s life long health struggles are frequently mentioned and are justified albeit the instances given are selective and censored. The reliance upon the family physician Dr Marcus Johnson ( Dr Johnny) who first pops up at page 170 ( for events in 1909) just wont do. Carnarvon knew Johnny at Cambridge University in the 1880s when Marcus was a medical student. Dr Johnny witnessed Carnarvon’s body deterioration over a period of 30 years. He treated the Earl as a patient at the Lock Hospital, London, in the 1890s – an institution that specialised in venereal diseases. Johnny also appeared as a witness for the Earl in 1900 at one of Motor Carnarvon’s many court appearance for speeding offences. Later appearances by Dr Johnny in Egypt as medic to the Earl and Almina are well enough drawn, but when the Earl was on his death bed at the Continental Hotel, Cairo in March-April 1923, being tended by Almina – and in the arms of Morpheus- Johnny was still in England and could not have comforted Lady Evelyn, as stated. Johnny only arrived in Cairo the day after the Earl died. Poor Johnny, his loose tongue in later years at Highclere weekends with Almina let the proverbial mummified cat out of the bag of Carnarvon family secrets and lies and he was shipped off to a mental asylum.
Oh dear! I give up on other counts at trying to set this record straight. This book is certainly NOT as asked at the outset the most authoritative and accurate record of the life of the 5th Earl of Carnarvon. Perhaps another anniversary will bring forth that definitive biography, and perhaps I should write it.
WILLIAM CROSS, FSA SCOT
William Cross is the author of several books on the Carnarvons of Highclere, including a full length biography of Almina, 5th Countess, a book on the early years of her husband as Lord Porchester, and books on Lord Carnarvon and his relationship with Howard Carter and Prince Victor Duleep Singh.
Contact Will Cross by email
THE EARL AND THE PHARAOH : PUBLISHED 27 OCTOBER 2022
HIGHCLERE SAVING FACE
At the anniversary this week of the discovery of Tutankhamun’s Tomb in 1922 no one can take away the remarkable contribution to Egyptology made by Lord Carnarvon and Howard Carter, or be anything other than astonished by the many thousands of stunning artefacts resulting from the epic search funded by Almina, Carnarvon’s wife and Countess from her access to Rothschild loot.
There are always writers hanging out the constant curios about this never ending story of King Tutankhamun and its various players, and this book from Lord Carnarvon’s successors should be the most authoritative and accurate. But is it?
In parts this book it is at least a more satisfactory volume than earlier ones from Highclere's ghost writers but only thanks to the hard work of others who are not even acknowledged. Indeed this account of Lord Carnarvon of Old King Tut fame ranks as only a face saver with countless corrections to previous offerings by Highclere’s scribes, by utilising facts uncovered by others, ( including this reviewer) and without specific citations, or the smallest contrition for previously pouring out bad ( and often wicked) history.
The Earl’s famous motor car accident in Germany is now admitted as being in 1909, the subject of others research for a decade. The proof of the pudding convincingly made public in 2022 by Dr Carola Vogel, a German Egyptologist in the Gottingen Miscellany ( No 266).
That said the Highclere text does not let go of this accident and perpetuates it as the trigger for Carnarvon spending winters in Egypt. All a smokescreen, the devilish work of the Earl's sister, Lady Winifred Burghclere in her flowery cover up biography of Lord Carnarvon from 1923, in 40- odd- pages of elegant dross that has been slavishly regurgitated by Highclere, and which now stands as a poor legacy of monumental howlers blighting thousands of books and articles ( and history).
The motive for proclaiming an earlier date for Carnarvon’s near death experience in Germany by Lady Winifred ( the Earl’s protective thug ) and of altering history was to deflect away the Earl’s many peccadilloes and health crisis caused by years of debauchery. But this new effort from a chequered army of scribes still follows a selective path of highlighting only what is praiseworthy and so sadly it falls short of portraying George Herbert’s whole life.
Yes, his legacy with Carter for finding a Pharaoh’s tomb has much merit, yes, he took good photographs, yes, he was a successful race horse owner and early pioneer of flying but if this is a biography it should be scrupulously honest by including warts and all.
The book cuts short at any mention of the actual event that led to Carnarvon’s initial digging years ( before he teamed up with Howard Carter). The Countess Almina always said the spark was after a trip to the USA in 1903 by her and the Earl, and their faithful physician Dr Marcus Johnson ( Dr Johnny) and of a chance meeting with Jeremiah Lynch of San Francisco’s Bohemian Club. Lynch was a famous Egyptophile, with his own Mummy in situ, an author and explorer who fired up Carnarvon’s passion for the chance of cashing in on finding undiscovered Royal Tombs in the Valley of the Kings. To thank Lynch the Earl and Almina attended a huge farewell party in Cairo close to the time the Antiquities Service was chewing over on Carnarvon’s request for digging rights.
Egypt was a country George Herbert ( as Lord Porchester) knew well from 1889 onwards. Yes, the climate eased his congenitally diseased lungs and its seedy bath houses provided an avenue for carnal pleasure with his friend Prince Victor Duleep Singh. Whilst Victor does makes a string of appearances in the book any real transparency about the men’s coupling is ditched, nothing is said of Victor’s role in fathering Almina’s son, Henry, a subject of much speculation in books, articles and a recent TV documentary. It could be settled by DNA testing. So quick were the writers to pass on this thorn in the flesh that an error appears at page 100 on Henry’s birth date.
As boys the young Porchey and his adorable and intimate friend Victor ‘Tulip’ Singh broke every school rule book at Eton College, were gambling mad and clocked up colossal debts from money lenders. Here the book is commendable. But much more on this could be cited from the Earl’s father’s diaries ( held by the British Museum) but after the 4th Earl’s death Elsie Howard, the second 4th Countess took a razor blade and removed scores of the pages of the diaries where an entry did not show the family in a proper or decent light. OK, Porchey gave his father a hellava time and worry over his dangerous liaisons, but he was bullied and ignored and wished for dead as the 4th Earl had a more obedient and acceptable son in Aubrey, as the Carnarvon heir.
It is crystal clear that other people’s research carried out and other books and comprehensive narratives that are not acknowledged have steered, shaped, and assisted the narrative presented of Carnarvon’s early years and family and timeline interactions. It was a dysfunctional family – as many aristocratic families are, wet nurses, rearing by servants, harsh female relations, the 4th Earl’s sisters, also bullies.
Other elements of the book are flawed. Almina’s wealth provider Baron Alfred de Rothschild and the Earl’s savour from bankruptcy was not Almina’s father. There is not an iota of proof to sustain the claim. Alfred led a double life and it suited all concerned that Almina became an instant Countess in marrying Carnarvon. Alfred paid up by funding Almina marriage settlement ( incorrectly given at page 78 as 25 June 1866). The manipulative Mr Alfred acquired a ready made family that this allowed him to hide his secret world from scrutiny. Almina’s Wombwell descendants, who are on record as observing Almina’s physical resemblance to other Wombwell women, would be delighted to have the question of blood tested once and for all, another case for DNA testing, the Rothschild bloodline continues on a grand scale. Moreover, a clump of Alfred’s hair is deposited in the Royal Archives for modern science to declare wonderful things.
Admissions about Lord Carnarvon’s life long health struggles are frequently mentioned and are justified albeit the instances given are selective and censored. The reliance upon the family physician Dr Marcus Johnson ( Dr Johnny) who first pops up at page 170 ( for events in 1909) just wont do. Carnarvon knew Johnny at Cambridge University in the 1880s when Marcus was a medical student. Dr Johnny witnessed Carnarvon’s body deterioration over a period of 30 years. He treated the Earl as a patient at the Lock Hospital, London, in the 1890s – an institution that specialised in venereal diseases. Johnny also appeared as a witness for the Earl in 1900 at one of Motor Carnarvon’s many court appearance for speeding offences. Later appearances by Dr Johnny in Egypt as medic to the Earl and Almina are well enough drawn, but when the Earl was on his death bed at the Continental Hotel, Cairo in March-April 1923, being tended by Almina – and in the arms of Morpheus- Johnny was still in England and could not have comforted Lady Evelyn, as stated. Johnny only arrived in Cairo the day after the Earl died. Poor Johnny, his loose tongue in later years at Highclere weekends with Almina let the proverbial mummified cat out of the bag of Carnarvon family secrets and lies and he was shipped off to a mental asylum.
Oh dear! I give up on other counts at trying to set this record straight. This book is certainly NOT as asked at the outset the most authoritative and accurate record of the life of the 5th Earl of Carnarvon. Perhaps another anniversary will bring forth that definitive biography, and perhaps I should write it.
WILLIAM CROSS, FSA SCOT
William Cross is the author of several books on the Carnarvons of Highclere, including a full length biography of Almina, 5th Countess, a book on the early years of her husband as Lord Porchester, and books on Lord Carnarvon and his relationship with Howard Carter and Prince Victor Duleep Singh.
Contact Will Cross by email
