At Home at Highclere: Entertaining at The Real Downton Abbey

As owner of Highclere, the real Downton Abbey, Lady Carnarvon’s love of history is richly rewarded with Highclere Castle’s mine of family records going back some 300 years. She has delved into the archives to create a book that invites you inside the Castle, past and present.

Throughout the centuries, Highclere has welcomed Royalty, Statesmen, Egyptologists and pioneers of technology along with men and women from the worlds of music, art and letters. The etiquette of the invitation, the balance of guests at a weekend house party, their ‘placement’ at dinners, and the entertainment of friends, as well as the domestic management required to execute the perfect occasion, have all preoccupied successive generations of châtelaines.

This book tells the story four real life weekends – from 1866 to 1936 – when the great and the good gathered at Highclere to change the world in some large or small part. It then reflects on how the current Countess entertains ‘At Home’ at Highclere today.