Lordy!  Tutankhamun's Patron As A Young Man
Publisher: William P Cross in conjunction with Book Midden Publishing, Newport, Gwent
Published: 2012
Place of publication: Newport, Gwent, United Kingdom
Format: Paperback
Number of pages: 278
ISBN-13: 9781905914050
Description: George Edward Stanhope Molyneux Herbert, the 5th Earl of Carnarvon and husband to the Rothschild heiress, Almina Wombwell, was a multi-faceted character. Yachtsman, motoring pioneer, race-goer, horseracing stud establisher, crack shot, big game hunter – his interests were indulgent. Yet all these activities are dwarfed by Carnarvon’s finest hour: his unearthing, with archaeologist friend Howard Carter, of the ancient tomb of a boy king in Egypt; a discovery that captured imaginations worldwide.

Tutankhamun’s tomb would have remained lost were it not for Lord Carnarvon, the project’s patron. “Lordy”, as he was named by the natives of the desert who were employed to dig and shift colossal sand dunes and debris, eagerly spent his wife’s money on several years of excavations in the Valley of the Kings, led by Carter. How excited he was, then, following the events of 4 November 1922 when the army of diggers uncovered a stone staircase leading down to a lost treasure. The rest is a well-known fable, with Carnarvon dying soon after the opening of the tomb – the victim of an ancient curse, according to many. 

In this retrospective on the 5th Earl, William Cross ( biographer of Lady Carnarvon) offers a portrait of his very early days within a family saga, based on diaries and correspondence of the 4th Earl, Lordy’s father. Here, is Lord Carnarvon in a fresh light, one that has hitherto been buried as deep as the entrance to Tutankhamun’s tomb. Indeed, Lordy’s father and stepmother, Elsie Howard, butchered parts of the diaries, removing scores of pages, and Elsie arranged the publication of a watered-down biography of her husband, so keen were they to bury family secrets.  Thankfully plenty of evidence about Lordy was not erased, and it is through detailed research that Cross is able to present this account.
Table of contents: title: Lordy!; title: Tutankhamun’s Patron As A Young Man; title: By William Cross, FSA Scot; title: Table of Contents / Chapters; title: Introduction by Alfred Jones, Ph.D; title: Forward by the Author, William Cross, FSA Scot; title: Chapter One : The Lost Boy.; title: Chapter Two :  A Loss Too Much To Bear; title: Chapter Three : Lady Evelyn Stanhope; title: Chapter Four : The 3rd Earl of Carnarvon; title: Chapter Five : First Meetings of Lordy’s Parents; title: Chapter Six : An Arranged Marriage; title: Chapter Seven :  Lady Evelyn, Mistress of Highclere Castle; title: Chapter Eight :  A Lady in Waiting; title: Chapter Nine : 1866; title: Chapter Ten : A new style of political hosting; title: Chapter Eleven : A political shift; title: Chapter Twelve :  The 4th Earl’s breakdown; title: Chapter Thirteen :  The Death of the Dowager Countess, Henrietta; title: Chapter Fourteen  : A Man of Principle; title: Chapter Fifteen : Sibthorpe’s School, Brighton; title: Chapter Sixteen: The Earl’s Second Family; title: Chapter Seventeen :  Back into the swing of Society life; title: Chapter Eighteen : Lordy Proves A Handful; title: Chapter Nineteen : Lordy Trains for the Army; title: Chapter Twenty : Lordy’s Rebellion; title: Chapter Twenty One : Self- Indulgence; title: Chapter Twenty Two : More Partying, More Debt; title: Chapter Twenty Three : The 4th Earl Deteriorates; title: Chapter Twenty Four :  A Farce at Hyde Petty Sessions; title: Epilogue; title: Lordy’s Quest To See His Mother Again; title: Romantic Friendships with Victor Duleep Singh and Howard Carter; title: Some Corrections to the Historical Record; title: What happened to Lordy’s Family and Associates.; title: Inheritance; title: END NOTES; title: What Killed Carnarvon?