The Earl and the Pharaoh: From the Real Downton Abbey to the Discovery of Tutankhamun

The Countess of Carnarvon (Seasons at Highclere) pays tribute to her ancestor George Herbert (1866–1923), the fifth Earl of Carnarvon, in this overstuffed account. At a time when “wealthy tourists flocked to Egypt for little more than four months of the year,” Lord Carnarvon, an avid collector of antiquities, “came to the conclusion that, rather than simply visiting as a tourist, he might see whether he could apply for a concession to excavate.” He partnered with Egyptologist Howard Carter, and in 1914 they were granted the rights to excavate in the Valley of the Kings, where they hoped—based on mentions in historical sources—to find the burial chamber of a young pharaoh. They were proven correct in November 1922, when they discovered Tutankhamun’s multichambered tomb on the western side of the valley. The author conveys the thrill of the discovery—which would turn out to be one of Egyptology’s largest and most enduring—and lucidly sketches the era’s turbulent politics. Unfortunately, readers must wade through mountains of extraneous details about the Earl’s daily life, including where his family spent their holidays and what social events they attended, to get to the good stuff. This history gets bogged down in minutiae. (Dec.)