Lady and Lord Carnarvon at the races in June 1921
George Edward Stanhope Molyneux Herbert, 5th Earl of Carnarvon (26 June 1866 – 5 April 1923), styled Lord Porchester until 1890, was an English aristocrat best known as the financial backer of the search for and the excavation of Tutankhamun's tomb in the Valley of the Kings.
Exceedingly wealthy, Carnarvon was at first best known as an owner of racehorses and a reckless driver of early automobiles, suffering in 1901 a serious motoring accident near Bad Schwalbach in Germany which left him significantly disabled. In 1902, he established Highclere Stud to breed thoroughbred racehorses. In 1905, he was appointed one of the Stewards at the new Newbury Racecourse. His family has maintained the connection ever since. His grandson, the 7th Earl, was racing manager to Queen Elizabeth II from 1969, and one of Her Majesty's closest friends.
Styled Lord Porchester from birth, he was born at the family seat, Highclere Castle, in Hampshire, the only son of Henry Herbert, 4th Earl of Carnarvon, a distinguished Tory statesman, by his first wife Lady Evelyn Stanhope, daughter of George Stanhope, 6th Earl of Chesterfield. Aubrey Herbert was his half-brother. He was educated at Eton and Trinity College, Cambridge, succeeding his father in the earldom in 1890.
Egyptology
Lord Carnarvon was an enthusiastic amateur Egyptologist, undertaking in 1907 to sponsor the excavation of nobles' tombs in Deir el-Bahri (Thebes). Howard Carter joined him as his assistant in the excavations. It is now established that it was Gaston Maspero, then Director of the Antiquities Department, who proposed Carter to Lord Carnarvon. He received in 1914 the concession to dig in the Valley of the Kings, in replacement of Theodore Davis who had resigned. In 1922, he and Howard Carter together opened the tomb of Tutankhamun in the Valley of the Kings, exposing treasures unsurpassed in the history of archaeology.
Family
Lord Carnarvon married Almina Victoria Maria Alexandra Wombwell, daughter of millionaire banker Alfred de Rothschild, at St. Margaret's Church, Westminster, on 26 June 1895. They had two children:
- Henry George Herbert, 6th Earl of Carnarvon (1898–1987), who married Anne Catherine Tredick Wendell and had issue.
- Lady Evelyn Leonora Almina Herbert (15 August 1901-1980), who married Sir Brograve Beauchamp, 2nd Baronet and had issue.
Some of Carnarvon's modern relatives (George Herbert, 8th Earl of Carnarvon and his family), who still live in England, own Highclere Castle, which was the film location of the famous television series, Downton Abbey.
Death - The Mummy's Curse
On 25 March 1923 Carnarvon suffered a severe mosquito bite infected by a
razor cut. On 5 April, he died in the Continental-Savoy Hotel in Cairo. This led to the story of the "Curse of Tutankhamun", the "Mummy's Curse". His death is most probably explained by blood poisoning (progressing to pneumonia) after accidentally shaving a mosquito bite infected with erysipelas. Carnarvon's tomb, appropriately for an archaeologist, is located within an ancient hill fort overlooking his family seat at Beacon Hill, Burghclere, Hampshire. Carnarvon was survived by his wife Almina, who re-married, and their two children.
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