Lady Carnarvon on the real Downton Abbey

Issue 05 – Home to the Carnarvon family for over 300 years, Highclere Castle also houses one of Britain’s most famous Egyptian exhibitions and has also hosted the royal family. Lady Carnarvon talks about what life is like living on the grounds of one of the UK’s most treasured historic buildings.

Childhood & Family

Born Fiona Aitken, Lady Carnarvon grew up in Westminster and is the eldest of six girls. “I had a lovely time growing up with all my sisters and between London and Cornwall (where we vacationed) we had a wonderful life.”

As a child, reading and playing tennis were her favourite pastimes and not much has changed since she became Lady Carnarvon including her attitude towards family life, “I’m quite a family orientated person, it grounds me. My work and my life are all very integrated. Family life and what we’re all doing is not so different.”

Despite a keen interested in history and English, Lady Carnarvon didn’t know what she wanted to be, “I trained as an accountant as I thought it’s just a useful thing that I could either do or support my husband with.”

Work & Books

Lady Carnarvon later became senior audit at Coopers and Lybrand, now PWC, and also ran the fashion label Azur. “I was interested (in fashion) at the time and I just thought it’s good to try new ideas. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t” said Lady Carnarvon.

As well as helping handle events and the Egyptian exhibition, Lady Carnarvon has written several books, the most recent of which is coming out at the end of September titled ‘Lady Almina and the Real Downton Abbey’. Lady Carnarvon says Lady Almina “was an amazing woman who contributed to so many different people’s lives and was incredibly generous”.

Downton Abbey

Highclere Castle was chosen to be the set of ITV’s Award winning period drama Downton Abbey by creator Julian Fellows who is a frequent visitor of the Castle. “I think he wanted something truly extraordinary when, before the First World War, the English Empire was substantial and in a sense a house of this size does remind you of that aspect of it” said Lady Carnarvon. She added “It’s all Julian’s writing. The characters are his creation and he’s a very skilled scriptwriter.

It’s just fascinating watching a programme that has gone straight from his head to the actor’s words.” According to Lady Carnarvon, not many changes were needed to turn Highclere Castle into the set, “They used it pretty much as it is, for the first series anyway. For the second series there are more different transformations as the series goes into the First World War.”

Since the series, Highclere Castle has seen an increase in tourism but Lady Carnarvon said “I think it has obviously marketed us and it certainty raises people’s awareness but when they come here they also come to see the Egyptian exhibition as well and they get caught up by the whole house and realise what a lovely home it is.”

Highclere Castle has also been the setting for several other films including Eyes Wide Shut and The Secret Garden as well as TV programmes like Inspector Morse and Poirot.

Restoration and the future

Despite reports of an urgent need for repair, Lady Carnarvon believes the future is very bright for Highclere Castle, ”My husband is always continuing to do repairs. I think it’s in a pretty good condition anyway and it’s not as if it’s been left untouched. We continue to work at it.” 

She added “we have thousands of visitors every year and now we have millions of people watching it on TV so I think we are all very fortunate.”

For more information on Highclere Castle or Lady Carnarvon’s Blog Lady Carnarvon