Earl of Carnarvon

Um, and, uh, it emerges, uh, pretty much entirely in the wake of the 1922 discovery of Tutankhamun's tomb in the Valley of the Kings by archaeologist Howard Carter, who lived 1874 through 1939, and his financier, Lord Carnarvon.

Um, this is, this was his-- also known as George Herbert, the fifth Earl of Carnarvon.

He lived 1866 through 1923.

Of note, '23, that's one year after the discovery of, of the tomb.

And then in the official account of this story, what then happens is everyone steps back and responsibly waits for the Egyptian authorities to turn up.

In the less official accounts, there is a suggestion that he and the Carnarvons may have gone back later that night and had a little private fertile around.

No, I didn't know about the private fertile.

Sounds a bit dodgy to me.

At all events, the water music is an adorable suite, definitely English in character, like much else in Handel's music, and to this day an ornament of concert programs in one or another arrangement.

king george far from remembering past annoyances saw to it that handel's yearly pension from queen anne should be increased to six hundred pounds so that even without further earnings his financial state was tolerably secure his good fortunes were enhanced by the musical enthusiasms of the king who could not hear enough of rinaldo and amadigi to the spectacular features of which live birds which sometimes misbehave and a fountain of real water heighten the attraction of sumptuous settings he went to them often incognito several times a week sharing his private box with his bevy of lady friends new and old or he would vary his visits to the opera with attendance at plays or concerts so that his chances to admire the works of handel in one form or another were rarely lacking many found that the monarch's habit of parading his amours before london audiences added to the piquancy of a handelian score by the side of the famed artificial soprano niccolini sang the brilliant anastasia robinson who had been a soprano but whose voice after a siege of illness suddenly dropped to contralto mrs robinson was particularly noted for the fact that her morals were at all times spotless mrs delaney was to describe her as of middling stature not handsome but of a pleasing modest countenance with large blue eyes her manner and address were very engaging and her behaviour on all occasions that of a gentlewoman when her husband lord peterborough died she burned the diaries he had kept wherein he had noted his various infidelities and other secrets not meant for the scrutiny of his wife handel's star was steadily rising and his fame was not to be transcended till a number of years later and then only by virtue of his own genius and after many fluctuations of fortune but when the king returned to london from his trip to germany opera fell upon bad days musical and theatrical life flourished indeed yet suddenly farces and other diversions imported from france captured the mood of the town and delighted the monarch and his ladies now nobody felt like putting up money on opera since inexpensive vulgarity was a safer bet at just about this period handel and james bridges duke of chandos former paymaster-general of the army during the marlborough wars were brought into contact The erstwhile Earl of Carnarvon had accumulated his wealth by heaven-knows-what sharp practices and inherited an estate at Cannons near Edgware, where he had erected a luxurious palace, including a chapel, a theatre, and other musical appurtenances inseparable from such an establishment.

The Prince of Wales was a frequent visitor at Cannons, braving even the swarming footpads of Edgware Road.

the duke of chandos seems to have been in a position to buy anything which struck his fancy and there is a story that on one occasion he or his son the accounts differ coming across a man unmercifully thrashing his well-favoured wife rescued the lady by buying her on the spot he therefore had no particular trouble securing handel as master of his music in place of his former employee the german dr pepusch some ten years later dr pepusch had his revenge by compiling the score of the beggar's opera which was to become such a grievous obstacle in handel's path but until seventeen twenty handel was in the service of the duke of chandos even if he spent much of his time in london busily attending to the musical instruction of the daughters of caroline princes of wales and writing numerous lessons and clavier suites for his royal pupils which brings us to another celebrated handelian fiction the harmonious blacksmith The legend is quite as diversified and even more far-fetched than the one about the water music.

She was the daughter of Randolph Stuart, who was the 12th Earl of Galloway, and his wife, Philippa Wendell.

Now, I'm fascinated by Philippa, just a little sidebar here, because Philippa's sister, Catherine, she married the Earl of Carnarvon.

She did.

Whose family home is Highclere Castle, where, I'm going with this, stick with me, Downton Abbey was filmed.

The furious academic lambasts Evie, telling her that he'd fire her on the spot if her family wasn't so well-connected, and makes her clean up every last bit of the mess.

This is a reference to a dropped concept for the story where she was meant to be Lady Evelyn Beauchamp, aka the daughter of the Fifth Earl of Carnarvon, who was present at the unearthing of the Tomb of Tutankhamen and died shortly thereafter, and thus originated the legend of the infamous Mummy's Curse that informed the original 1932 film.

but it was decided to steer clear of historical figures and so Carnarvon became Carnahan and her family became generic wealthy explorers.

While Evie is figuring out where to begin her cleanup project, she's startled by an apparent mummy lunging out at her, but it turns out to be just her brother Jonathan playing with an ancient corpse as a prank.