The real-life owner of Downton Abbey, Lady Fiona Carnarvon, has reflected on what it was like to attend the Queen’s intimate burial at St George’s Chapel in September.
The owner of Highclere Castle, which acts as the exterior of the fictional Downton Abbey in the hit show, was one of the 800 people to attend Queen Elizabeth II’s committal and burial service in Windsor following the late monarch’s large state funeral at Westminster Abbey.
“We were lucky enough to be asked to St George’s chapel, which was very moving,” Lady Carnavon told Good Morning Britain (GMB) hosts Charlotte Hawkins and Adil Ray on Thursday (27 October).
“The royal family must have been so exhausted,” Lady Carnarvon added. “But I think when we all saw the coffin going down it was hard not to cry.”
Carnarvon, whose husband George Edwards, the Earl of Carnarvon, was the Queen’s godson, added that the last time she saw the Queen before Her Majesty’s death on 8 September was at the Chelsea Flower Show in May.
“We were lucky enough to bump into her at the Chelsea Flower Show in May, and I had launched two new roses,” Carnarvon explained. “She never missed a beat.”
When asked by Hawkins how Highclere prepared for the Queen to visit, Carnarvon said it was “something on a different scale”.
“It’s very nerve-wracking,” she added. “In the end it’s about making lists. She was the most extraordinary lady as we all know. She would try to put me at ease when she was arriving.”
Carnarvon was on GMB speaking about her new book, The Earl and the Pharaoh: From the Real Downton Abbey to the Discovery of Tutankhamun.
The book marks 100 years since the discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb, which was found by her husband’s great-grandfather, Lord Carnarvon in 1922.
“It is extraordinary, as an author it was really exciting,” Lady Carnarvon explained. “Effectively, he [Lord Carnarvon] died, he gave his life to the discovery of Tutankhamun.”
