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Generations of the Carnarvon family have lived on this beautiful Berkshire estate. The current Lord and Lady of Highclere are George Herbert, the 8th Earl, and his second wife Fiona.
A godson of the Queen, George - or Geordie as he is known - has loved Highclere since he was a small boy and used to visit his grandfather there.
“It was a vast place to someone of my size, but it was great, too,” he says.
“You could explore it for hours and come across dark corners high up in the building or a wonderful old toy left in the nursery from when my father was my age.”
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The Queen was a long-time friend of his late father, the pair sharing a great interest in horse-racing and breeding.
“She has a stud farm not far away,” says Geordie. “She would come and visit in my father’s time and watch the horses in training.” Fiona adds: “King George V and Queen Mary used to come and stay, as well as members of European royal houses.”
It wasn't only the rich and titled who got to enjoy Highclere, however.
During the First World War, one celebrated ancestor, Lady Almina, persuaded her husband – George Herbert, the 5th Earl of Carnarvon – to allow the house to be turned into a military hospital.
Scores of traumatised and injured men, fresh from the hellish battlefields, arrived. When they were driven through Highclere's graceful green parkland to arrive at the stately entrance, some thought they’d arrived in paradise.
These days, of course, countless Downton viewers around the world have also come to know the place. “It’s an amazing house,” says Fiona, warmly. “And it’s wonderful to be able to share it with so many millions of people.”
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