Lady Evelyn Leonora Almina Beauchamp ( ; ; 15 August 1901 – 31 January 1980) was the daughter of
George Herbert, 5th Earl of Carnarvon
George Edward Stanhope Molyneux Herbert, 5th Earl of Carnarvon, (26 June 1866 – 5 April 1923), styled Lord Porchester until 1890, was an English peer and aristocrat best known as the financial backer of the search for and excavation of T ...
. In November 1922, she, her father and the archaeologist
Howard Carter were the first people in modern times to enter the
tomb
A tomb ( grc-gre, τύμβος ''tumbos'') is a repository for the remains of the dead. It is generally any structurally enclosed interment space or burial chamber, of varying sizes. Placing a corpse into a tomb can be called ''immureme ...
of the Egyptian Pharaoh
Tutankhamun
Tutankhamun (, egy, twt-ꜥnḫ-jmn), Egyptological pronunciation Tutankhamen () (), sometimes referred to as King Tut, was an Egyptian pharaoh who was the last of his royal family to rule during the end of the Eighteenth Dynasty (ruled ...
. She later married Sir
Brograve Beauchamp and had a daughter. Lady Evelyn died in 1980, at the age of 78.
Early life
Lady Evelyn Leonora Almina Herbert was born on 15 August 1901, the second child and only daughter of
George Herbert, 5th Earl of Carnarvon
George Edward Stanhope Molyneux Herbert, 5th Earl of Carnarvon, (26 June 1866 – 5 April 1923), styled Lord Porchester until 1890, was an English peer and aristocrat best known as the financial backer of the search for and excavation of T ...
and
Almina Herbert, Countess of Carnarvon. Her older brother was
Henry Herbert, 6th Earl of Carnarvon.
[
Her childhood was spent mainly at ]Highclere Castle
Highclere Castle is a Grade I listed country house built in 1679 and largely renovated in the 1840s, with a park designed by Capability Brown in the 18th century. The estate is in Highclere in Hampshire, England, about south of Newbury, B ...
, the family's country house in Hampshire. Looked after by a nanny and a governess, she and her brother were seldom in the company of her parents. As Evelyn grew older she however became closer to her father, her brother observing that she became "the apple of my father's eye – he worshipped her and they were the closest of friends until he died. She had a great influence of good on him and healed many a breach between my father and mother which no-one else could have achieved". From 1920, she accompanied him on his annual visit to Egypt.[ Journeying to Egypt in January 1923, the journalist Valentine Williams noted "the tender friendship" between father and daughter that was "delightful to watch", while Howard Carter referred to Evelyn as her father's "devoted companion in all his Egyptian work".
Lady Evelyn was launched as a debutante and presented at court in 1920, with her mother staging receptions for her, including at the British Residency in Cairo during their Egyptian stays in 1921 and 1922. It was during one of these receptions that she met her future husband, Brograve Beauchamp, the son of the Liberal MP Sir Edward Beauchamp, who continued to visit her when they both returned to England.]
Tutankhamun's Tomb
Lord and Lady Carnarvon often spent the winter in Egypt, where they bought antiquities for their collection in England. In 1906 Lord Carnarvon obtained a concession to excavate sites near Luxor
Luxor ( ar, الأقصر, al-ʾuqṣur, lit=the palaces) is a modern city in Upper (southern) Egypt which includes the site of the Ancient Egyptian city of ''Thebes''.
Luxor has frequently been characterized as the "world's greatest open-a ...
. From 1907, he employed Howard Carter to supervise this work including, from 1914, a systematic search of the Valley of the Kings
The Valley of the Kings ( ar, وادي الملوك ; Late Coptic: ), also known as the Valley of the Gates of the Kings ( ar, وادي أبوا الملوك ), is a valley in Egypt where, for a period of nearly 500 years from the 16th to 11th ...
for any tombs missed by previous expeditions, in particular that of the Pharaoh Tutankhamun
Tutankhamun (, egy, twt-ꜥnḫ-jmn), Egyptological pronunciation Tutankhamen () (), sometimes referred to as King Tut, was an Egyptian pharaoh who was the last of his royal family to rule during the end of the Eighteenth Dynasty (ruled ...
. By 1922 little of significance had been found and Lord Carnarvon decided this would be the final year he would fund the work.
However, on 4 November 1922, Carter was able to send a telegram to Lord Carnarvon, in England at the time, saying:
"At last have made wonderful discovery in Valley; a magnificent tomb with seals intact; re-covered same for your arrival; congratulations".
Lady Evelyn accompanied her father to Egypt, and arrived at Luxor on 23 November 1922. Both were present the next day when the full extent of the stairway to the tomb
A tomb ( grc-gre, τύμβος ''tumbos'') is a repository for the remains of the dead. It is generally any structurally enclosed interment space or burial chamber, of varying sizes. Placing a corpse into a tomb can be called ''immureme ...
was cleared and a seal containing Tutankhamun's cartouche
In Egyptian hieroglyphs, a cartouche is an oval with a line at one end tangent to it, indicating that the text enclosed is a royal name. The first examples of the cartouche are associated with pharaohs at the end of the Third Dynasty, but the f ...
found on the outer doorway. This door was removed and the rubble filled corridor behind cleared, revealing the door of the tomb itself. Lady Evelyn was also present when, on 26 November, Carter made a tiny breach in the top left hand corner of the tomb doorway, enabling him to peer in by the light of a candle. When Carnarvon asked, "Can you see anything?" Carter replied "Yes, wonderful things!". The tomb was then secured, to be entered in the presence of an official of the Egyptian Department of Antiquities the next day.
However that night, Carter, his assistant Arthur Callender, Carnarvon and Lady Evelyn apparently made an unauthorised visit, becoming the first people in modern times to enter the tomb. Some sources suggest that the group also entered the inner burial chamber. In this account, a small hole was found in the chamber's sealed doorway and Carter, Carnarvon and Lady Evelyn crawled through. The diary of Lord Carnarvon's half-brother Mervyn Herbert
The Honourable Mervyn Robert Howard Molyneux Herbert (27 December 1882 – 26 May 1929) of Tetton, Kingston St Mary in Somerset, was a career diplomat and a first-class cricket player.
Origins
Herbert was born at Highclere Castle in Hampshire ...
notes that Evelyn told him that the group entered the 'second chamber', and that Evelyn, being the smallest, was the first to enter the burial chamber.
The next morning, the 27 November, saw an inspection of the tomb in the presence of an Egyptian official. Callender rigged up electric lighting, illuminating a vast haul of items, including gilded couches, chests, thrones, and shrines. They also saw evidence of two further chambers, including the sealed doorway to the inner burial chamber, guarded by two life-size statues of Tutankhamun. In spite of evidence of break-ins in ancient times, the tomb was virtually intact, and would ultimately be found to contain over 5,000 items.
On 29 November the tomb was officially opened in the presence of a number of invited dignitaries and Egyptian officials, with Evelyn arranging a luncheon party afterwards for the guests.
Lady Evelyn and her father travelled to England in December 1922, the two returning in January 1923 to be present at the official opening of the inner burial chamber on 16 February. The same month Brograve Beauchamp visited with his parents, Howard Carter providing a tour of Tutankhamun's Tomb.[ Soon afterwards Lord Carnarvon contracted ]blood poisoning
Sepsis, formerly known as septicemia (septicaemia in British English) or blood poisoning, is a life-threatening condition that arises when the body's response to infection causes injury to its own tissues and organs. This initial stage is foll ...
and, after travelling to Cairo with Evelyn, he died on 5 April 1923. Lady Evelyn left Egypt to return to England with her brother
is a 1960 Japanese drama film directed by Kon Ichikawa. The film is based on the novel ''Otōto'' by Aya Koda. It was entered into the 1961 Cannes Film Festival, where it won a prize for Special Distinction.
Plot
17-year-old Gen takes care ...
, Lady Carnarvon following with Lord Carnarvon's remains a week later. This was Evelyn's last visit to Egypt. She did, however, maintain contact with Howard Carter and was present at his funeral at Putney Vale Cemetery
Putney Vale Cemetery and Crematorium in southwest London is located in Putney Vale, surrounded by Putney Heath and Wimbledon Common and Richmond Park. It is located within of parkland. The cemetery was opened in 1891 and the crematorium in 1938 ...
in 1939.
Lady Evelyn attended the opening of the Tutankhamun 50th anniversary celebrations in 1972, including the Treasures of Tutankhamun exhibition at the British Museum
The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...
, London, where she was presented to the Queen who was there to open the exhibition.
Marriage and later life
On 8 October 1923, Lady Evelyn Herbert married Brograve Beauchamp at St Margaret's, Westminster
The Church of St Margaret, Westminster Abbey, is in the grounds of Westminster Abbey on Parliament Square, London, England. It is dedicated to Margaret of Antioch, and forms part of a single World Heritage Site with the Palace of Westminster ...
. They had one child, Patricia Evelyn Beauchamp (11 July 1925 – 7 October 2014), who in 1949 married Major Michael William Thomas Leatham, and had two sons, Simon Anthony Michael Leatham (born 1951) and Edward Arthur Martyn Leatham (born 1953).
Brograve became a baronet
A baronet ( or ; abbreviated Bart or Bt) or the female equivalent, a baronetess (, , or ; abbreviation Btss), is the holder of a baronetcy, a hereditary title awarded by the British Crown. The title of baronet is mentioned as early as the 14t ...
on the death of his father in February 1925. He served as Conservative Member of Parliament
A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...
for Walthamstow East from 1931 to 1945, and died 25 August 1976 at the age of 79.[
Like her father and brother, Lady Evelyn owned a number of racehorses and often attended race meetings, being described in the press as "petite, charming and immensely popular in racing circles". She was also closely involved in London Society and regularly appeared in Society publications like '']The Tatler
''Tatler'' is a British magazine published by Condé Nast Publications focusing on fashion and lifestyle, as well as coverage of high society and politics. It is targeted towards the British upper-middle class and upper class, and those interes ...
''. She remained on close terms with her to brother Henry, and helped supervise the refurbishment and modernisation of Highclere after Henry became 6th Earl.
In July 1935 she was injured in a serious car accident on her way to Newmarket, Suffolk, and recuperated in the London nursing home established by her mother during the First World War. She later suffered from a number of strokes.
Lady Evelyn died in London on 31 January 1980 aged 78, three years after Sir Brograve.[ She is buried beside her husband in ]Putney Vale Cemetery
Putney Vale Cemetery and Crematorium in southwest London is located in Putney Vale, surrounded by Putney Heath and Wimbledon Common and Richmond Park. It is located within of parkland. The cemetery was opened in 1891 and the crematorium in 1938 ...
in South West London. Howard Carter is also buried at Putney Vale.
Relationship with Howard Carter
Lady Evelyn had known Howard Carter since she was a child, with Carter often visiting the Carnarvon's homes in London and Hampshire. From 1920, Evelyn began to accompany her father on his annual winter trips to Egypt, where she and Carter were on friendly terms. While there were later suggestions of a discreet romantic relationship between the two, there is no evidence of any rumour or gossip among those present at the time. Lady Evelyn denied the idea, later telling her daughter Patricia that "at first I was in awe of him, later I was rather frightened of him", she resenting Carter's "determination" to come between her and her father. More recently, the 8th Earl of Carnarvon dismissed the story, describing Carter as a "stoical loner".
In popular culture
Lady Evelyn Herbert has been portrayed in films, television productions, and novels, with varying degrees of accuracy:
* By Angharad Rees
Angharad Mary Rees, The Hon. Mrs David McAlpine, CBE (16 July 1944 – 21 July 2012) was a British actress, best known for her British television roles during the 1970s and in particular her leading role as Demelza in the 1970s BBC TV costume d ...
in the 1980 Columbia Pictures Television
Columbia Pictures Television, Inc. (abbreviated as CPT) was launched on May 6, 1974, by Columbia Pictures as an American television production and distribution studio. It is the second name of the Columbia Pictures television division Screen Gem ...
production '' The Curse of King Tut's Tomb''.
* By Alexandra Weaver in the 2005 BBC TV docudrama series ''Egypt
Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Medit ...
'', episodes one ''The Search for Tutankhamun'', and two ''The Curse of Tutankhamun''.
* By Amy Wren
Amy Wren (born 14 October 1989) is an English actress.
Personal life
Wren attended ''Parsnips Youth Theatre'' in Harborough for four years. She was featured in the ''Mail'' in July 2006, when she and two others from Parsnips were chosen to be ...
in the 2016 British ITV series ''Tutankhamun''.[
* In the movie ''Stargate'' (1994) and the TV series '' Stargate: SG-1'', the character Catherine Langford (played by numerous actresses) is based on Evelyn Herbert.
* In ''The Mummy'' (1999) and its sequels '']The Mummy Returns
''The Mummy Returns'' is a 2001 American adventure horror film written and directed by Stephen Sommers, starring Brendan Fraser, Rachel Weisz, John Hannah, Arnold Vosloo, Oded Fehr, Patricia Velásquez, Freddie Boath, Alun Armstrong, a ...
'' (2001) and '' The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor'' (2008), the character Evelyn Carnahan, played at different points of the series by Rachel Weisz
Rachel Hannah Weisz (; born 7 March 1970 ) is an English actress. She is the recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Award, a Laurence Olivier Award, and a BAFTA Award.
Weisz began acting in British stage and television in the ...
and Maria Bello
Maria Elena Bello (born April 18, 1967) is an American actress and writer. Her film roles include '' Permanent Midnight'' (1998), '' Payback'' (1999), '' Coyote Ugly'' (2000), ''The Cooler'' (2003), '' A History of Violence'' (2005), '' The Mumm ...
, is named in tribute to Lady Evelyn Carnarvon, whose father is described as one of Egyptology
Egyptology (from ''Egypt'' and Greek , ''-logia''; ar, علم المصريات) is the study of ancient Egyptian history, language, literature, religion, architecture and art from the 5th millennium BC until the end of its native religious p ...
's "finest patrons", and a "famous explorer".
The German language novel ''Der König von Luxor'' by Philipp Vandenberg published in 2014 includes a largely fictionalised Lady Evelyn Beauchamp as one of the three principal characters.
The novel ''The Collector's Daughter'' by Gill Paul published in 2021 provides a fictional version of Lady Evelyn against a backdrop of the events at the time of the tomb's discovery.
Notes and references
Citations
General sources
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Beauchamp (née Herbert), Lady Evelyn
1901 births
1980 deaths
English socialites
Evelyn
British debutantes
Daughters of British earls
Wives of baronets
Burials at Putney Vale Cemetery
People from Highclere