150th ANNIVERSARY OF THE BIRTH OF ALMINA, COUNTESS OF CARNARVON

 

THE MANY FACES OF ALMINA CARNARVON

SUBJECT OF TWO BIOGRAPHIES

Today, 14 April 2026, is the 150^th anniversary of the birth of Almina Wombwell, later 5^th Countess of Carnarvon, chatelaine for almost 30 years of Highclere Castle, famous as the backdrop to film and TV’s Downton Abbey.

There are  two biographies of the extraordinary Almina, my book “ The Life and Secrets of Almina Carnarvon”, and  “Lady Almina and the Real Downton Abbey”, from Highclere’s stable.

The two works are polls apart in terms of sources used, in content and the years covered. The books stack up for closer scrutiny and integrity. One book was produced under the auspices of a worldwide kingdom of a major publishing house, whilst the other was compiled single-handed over three years, by me,  an experienced historical researcher, antiquarian and a Fellow of the Antiquaries of Scotland.

I was refused access to the Herbert family sources at its stately home at Highclere and the files hidden and forbidden that lie within the Archives of Highclere Castle, Hampshire, England, a place now a veritable shrine, an iconic a structure that television has turned into a glorified biscuit- tin image in adverts and programme breaks.

My book is  culled from devouring everything almost ever written about Almina and her first husband, George Herbert,  the 5th Earl of Carnarvon, the famed discoverer, with Howard Carter of Tutankhamun.

That assault course involved delving into numerous British, European and American Archives, The Royal Archives at Windsor Castle, the Rothschild Archives, London, the National Archives at Kew and the British Library among them- as well as papers and diaries held in private hands.

Testimonies were gathered far and wide from many people who knew Almina, or knew about her. This was an epic process which began long before television, press or public made Highclere a universal phallus. Importantly,  my book draws on the personal testimony about Almina, the 5th Countess of Carnarvon from her late godson, Anthony ( Tony ) Leadbetter ( 1938-2019). Tony actually lived with Almina for almost thirty years of her very long, colourful life.  His Aunt Alice Butler and his mother, Anne Leadbetter, were Almina's housekeepers from 1935 until 1969. If anyone knows what Almina was like it is Tony Leadbetter. There is no one in the Herbert family who has this experience of living under the same roof,  for the same duration with Almina over a number of the decades of life, and now, reliably, lovingly  recalling her voice, her memories and from a time when she was finally free at last to speak out candidly and frankly about her life and about those she knew, and loved and some whom she hated.

A writer and a publisher should always strive for indisputable accuracy and objectivity. The unvarnished truth about Almina, 5th Countess of Carnarvon is much too big to be suppressed, and that's why one of these books about her whole life, not a half life, half told, but all her life, told with a sense for seeking out the truth, will endure, with integrity, as her definitive biography, whilst the other will surely only be a minor accompaniment to a highly overrated television fiction.

The Life Secrets of Almina Carnarvon, Third Edition, is still available on ebay .

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/204794598968

For further details please contact William Cross, by e-mail, williecross@aol.com

William Cross, FSA Scot

14 April 2026, Newport, South Wales

Tutankhamun Centenary 2022 : Lady Almina Carnarvon's Game of Charades

 TUTANKHAMUN CENTENARY 2022

ALMINA COUNTESS OF CARNARVON  PLAYS  OUT  HER OWN  GAME OF CHARADES 

Almina, Countess of Carnarvon

In November-December 1922  whilst Howard Carter and  Lord George  Carnarvon were playing out their  choreographed games around the Old King Tut discovery  and then entering into  Tutankhamun’s tomb,  Almina, Carnarvon’s wife was missing from the centre stage at Luxor.  

Almina was playing out her own game of charades.                     

The woman who forked out  the money  for  the  14 years of digging through the generous  hand-outs  she secured  from  her sugar daddy,  Baron Alfred de Rothschild, was sorting out  how to add to her  bank balance.

The reason for  Almina’s absence  on  the first November 1922 trip by her husband  to Egypt  is crowded with surreptitious art deals and sneaky arrangements, the usual level of  Carnarvon lies that have confused history.  

Year on year, for 20 years, Lady Carnarvon had accompanied his Lordship  to Egypt.  Upon the epic discovery being made, and Howard Carter’s famous telegram, Almina  declined to go out to the scene of the great triumph.  This was because she had other bigger fish, much bigger fish to fry in the hotels  of Paris and in the English countryside, as far away as possible from the eyes and tongues of London spies.

One cute explanation given was that “being so often disappointed [on previous journeys to Luxor ] [Almina] decided  to  stay behind.”  [i] [ in England].

Colonel Ian Onslow Dennistoun and Almina, Countess of Carnarvon

Another reason, the true one,  is clear.  Almina was already  deeply involved  in a relationship with  Lt Colonel Ian Dennistoun, whom she later married a few months after  she   humanely hastened  Lord Carnarvon’s demise in the days she spent nursing him at the Continental Hotel,  Cairo from 26 March- 5 April 1923. 

 Almina  was seeing the Colonel and they were lovers. 

 This fact came out  in the High Court in 1925  during the  17 day sex scandal Dennistoun v  Dennistoun.  

 The Colonel – and his ex wife Dorothy may well   have had a cunning plan to deceive Almina,  but the Countess saw through any ploy.   She wanted the Colonel and  had him in her bed.   Moreover , he  was the fall guy, the  patsy. 

Almina’s plan was also  to money launder the proceeds of  her intended  art  sales through   Ian Dennistoun’s   barren bank  account. Ian was skint, he lived on a tiddly  army pension and hand outs from the  helpless  women he chased.

Baron Alfred de Rothschild

In the winter of  1922/3  the Countess was busy wheeling and dealing over the estate left to her by  Baron Alfred de Rothschild.  Alfred, a shrewd  collector of old Masters, Gainsboroughs,  French porcelain,  rare silver and the finest  jewels treated Almina well, he secured the title for her of Countess of Carnarvon, he funded the Carnarvons’ whims  for decades; but he had to as Almina’s mother Marie Wombwell  was aware and ready to disclose Alfred’s cloudy business  and shameful sex secrets to the world.

[i]  Sunday Times, 10 December, 1922.

READ MORE IN 

" LIES, DAMNED LIES AND THE CARNARVONS"

A NEW BOOK FROM

WILLIAM CROSS, FSA SCOT

Lies, Damned Lies And The Carnarvons

CONTACT WILL CROSS BY E-MAIL

williecross@aol.com