Welcome! Strictly entre nous, times have been a bit tight here at Highclere since Downton Abbey stopped filming, so we’re having to let in a lot more riffraff. I’d thought we were scraping the barrel with Hugh Bonneville! So this coffee-table book – available from the Highclere gift shop – will be a wonderful souvenir for those of you who are never going to get an invitation to stay in the private quarters.
Fiona, 8th Countess of Carnarvon
October 1866: Benjamin Disraeli was a Victorian Conservative politician who achieved position rather than being born into it. Oh very dear. Despite him being so common and a terrible chancellor of the exchequer – looking back, it was a bad idea to put someone with no money in charge of the nation’s finances – Henry Howard Molyneux Turnbull Asser Herbert, 4th Earl of Carnarvon invited him to stay. The Countess of Carnarvon smiled sweetly at Disraeli and then went to talk to Lord and Lady Cranborne (later to become Lord and Lady Salisbury) whose company she found very congenial. The weekend wasn’t a great success, but noblesse oblige and the servants discharged their duties with the utmost courtesy.
Breakfast: I always like to have breakfast brought to me in bed. My absolute favourite is when our chef, Paul, cooks me Eggs Hollandaise Highclere Castle. This is the recipe. Take one egg and cook it with spinach and ham, then add a hollandaise sauce. Here is a picture of me feeding the chickens while Bates was in prison. You can also eat kedgeree for breakfast, I’m told.
The Saloon: This is one of my favourite rooms. Please admire the 16 pages of photographs. If you would like to see the saloon in more detail, please book one of our Literature and Landscape tours of the castle and grounds. Tickets are available at £85.
Margery Goldsmith: Isn’t she adorable? Every castle needs a Margery! Margery is one of our guides. She has even been known to help me find my way around when I’ve got a bit lost. Margery says: “It’s not unusual for Lady Carnarvon to appear spontaneously during a tour and everyone flocks to hear her fascinatingly dreary stories.”
Fish: Paul often cooks me fish. I spent a lot of my childhood holidays in Cornwall, so I have a close affinity to fish. Here are some recipes for fish with hollandaise sauce.
Les Taylor: Les is our head of security and is 89. Well done, Les! He’s not quite Carson, but he’s still as bright as a button.
August 1886: Despite being American, Henry James was a very gifted writer so Lady Carnarvon invited him to stay. The weekend was a great success and James was particularly taken with the sight of the donkey-cart being led by Stratton the groom. Lady Carnarvon did ask James to stay again the following year but unfortunately he couldn’t come as he was busy. He wasn’t invited again as many of his later books were a bit long and dull.
The Library: This is a room with a lot of books in it. Some of them are very valuable, but luckily we have Les to keep an eye on any would-be pilferers!
Meat: We eat a lot of meat at Highclere as we like to eat our own produce. I sometimes like to cook when chef has his day off once a year. My favourite is partridge curry. I don’t suppose you get as many partridges as we do, so you can use chicken if you like.
December 1895: It was a great honour to have the Prince of Wales to stay. On show at Highclere is the nightgown which the Countess of Carnarvon was wearing when she was goosed by the Prince of Wales. It is one of our great treasures. We also have a photo of the last Lord Carnarvon holding the current Prince of Wales. Priceless.
Pat Withers: Pat is one of our painters and decorators. Pat keeps ferrets.
Easter 1935: The very glamorous Lord and Lady Carnarvon invited Sir Malcolm Sargent and Porchey, as we called Lord Porchester, for the weekend. It was an extremely racy occasion and one not to be forgotten by anyone lucky enough to have been there. Especially by the mad Lord Howard who never stopped talking about invading Spain.
Diana Moyse: Diana is the head housekeeper and she is very attached to her floor polisher. Diana says: “It was a great honour to clean the floors that the Queen had walked on.”
A weekend at Highclere today: I wake up to be informed that it is a Friday and that guests whom I have invited many months previously are coming to stay. I summon the staff to make sure all the rooms have fresh linen and then I go back to bed. In the autumn, we have people to shoot. I expect you do, too. It can be quite exhausting making sure everyone has enough champagne and is dressed correctly, so once everyone has left I like to have a lie-down before preparing for the next weekend. Onwards and upwards.
Digested read, digested: You can look, but you can’t touch.
