Written by the current Lady Carnarvon, this is the story behind Highclere Castle, the real-life inspiration and setting for the Masterpiece Classic television series Downton Abbey, and the life of one of its most famous inhabitants, Lady Almina, the 5th Countess of Carnarvon. Much like her fictional counterpart Lady Cora Crawley, Almina was the daughter of wealthy industrialist, Alfred de Rothschild, and her dowry served as the crucial link in preserving the Earl of Carnarvon's ancestral home. Throwing open the doors of Highclere Castle to tend to the wounded of World War I, Lady Almina distinguished herself as a brave and remarkable woman in a time of precipitous change.