Downton Abbey’s Real Countess — Her Secrets Were Far Darker Than Fiction

Before Downton Abbey, there was a real countess at Highclere Castle. Lady Almina Carnarvon turned her home into a hospital during the First World War, stood beside her husband at the height of the Tutankhamun discovery, and lived with a secret about her birth that society whispered about for years. In this video, we look at the life of Lady Almina Carnarvon, from her mysterious parentage and her connection to Alfred de Rothschild, to her marriage to the 5th Earl of Carnarvon, her wartime nursing work, the death of her husband after the tomb of Tutankhamun was found, and her quieter later years.