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Friday, April 12, 2019

Jean, Countess of Carnarvon [1935-2019]

_.Jean, Countess of Carnarvon, who died 11 April, 2019, aged 83, was the widow of ‘Porchy’ the 7th Earl of Carnarvon KBE KCVO [1924-2001], the great friend of Queen Elizabeth II, for many years Her Majesty's racing manager.

She was chatelaine of the magnificent Highclere, the family seat made famous as TV’s Downton Abbey.

She was born in the United States, 29 April, 1935, as Jean Margaret [Jeannie] Wallop, scion of the Earls of Portsmouth, elder daughter of the Hon Oliver Wallop, who made his home in Wyoming, by his American-born wife Jean, daughter of Edward Small Moore, of New York.

She married in New York, 7 January, 1956, Henry George Reginald Molyneux Herbert, then styled Lord Porchester, member of the Queen’s inner circle, and later her racing manager. Her husband succeeded his father as 7th Earl of Carnarvon in 1987, was appointed KBE [1976], and KCVO [1982]; and he died suddenly, 11 September, 2001, the day of the attack on the Twin Towers. The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh attended his funeral at Highclere.

The Dowager Countess of Carnarvon leaves two sons, George, the 8th Earl of Carnarvon, and the Hon Harry Herbert, a sometime squeeze of the young Lady Diana Spencer; and a daughter, Lady Carolyn, wife of the Queen’s current racing manager, John Frederick Rufus Warren.

Her Majesty The Queen attended the funeral which took place at the Church of St Michael and All Angels, Highclere, 25 April, 2019.

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