Lady Carnarvon's Official Podcast

Lady Carnarvon welcomes novelist Eve Chase to discuss her latest book, The Secret Thread, a dual-timeline story (1969 and today) shaped around an auction in which famed interior designer Mimi “Mo” sells her estate and reveals her life through meaningful objects; an idea sparked by seeing Joan Didion’s belongings auctioned at Christie’s in 2022. They talk about why country houses are such powerful “crucibles” for fiction, how Eve created the fictional Rush Wood to fit a chalk stream and proximity to Lyme Regis, and the novel’s central relationship between two sisters, daughters of a head gardener, whose lives diverge and are marked by a dark secret. Eve shares her 18-month writing process, her shift from 1990s magazine journalism (including travel and celebrity interviews) into fiction, and how author promotion has changed with social media, reader connection, and even her dog Harry. The conversation touches on Downton Abbey props sold at auction, the cultural value of memorabilia, archiving family papers, research choices in fiction, and Eve’s dream party guest: Dolly Parton.

01:00 Secret Thread Origins

02:46 Objects and Memory

04:18 Sisters and Dark Secret

04:52 Building the Country House

07:40 Cornwall Settings and Past Books

09:16 Writing Process and Planning

11:42 From Journalism to Novels

13:03 Magazine Era Adventures

14:16 Childhood Without TV

15:30 Writing as Active Art

16:11 Learning Later in Life

16:50 Marketing in Social Media

18:06 Readers and Attention Spans

19:45 Sisters and Shared Humanity

21:41 Dogs and Downton Abbey

23:48 Downton Props at Auction

27:37 Archiving a Historic House

28:55 Research and Hooking Readers

30:32 Bookshops and Final Farewell

You can hear more episodes of Lady Carnarvon's Official Podcasts at https://www.ladycarnarvon.com/podcast/

New episodes are published on the first day of every month. 

Lady Carnarvon reflects on Highclere Castle’s first Literary Festival by spotlighting visiting authors and the origins of their stories.

Hugh Bonneville discusses his commissioned Rory Sparkes children’s trilogy, how book two drew on learning his mother worked for MI6, and how he “pillaged” schoolchildren’s ideas; he reads an excerpt from The Spy Who Loved Tea.

Shrabani Basu explains how researching curries led her to Victoria & Abdul, the challenge of burned letters, and her use of archives and Victoria’s Hindustani journals, then reads from the book.

Derrick Tuke-Hastings describes writing Happiness Is You Still Being You during COVID and after retirement, including navigating a cancer diagnosis, and reads a passage on rediscovery.

Santa Montefiore shares how her son inspired The Royal Rabbits of London and reads a tense tunnel scene.

Dr. Hilary Jones describes turning COVID parallels with WWI and the Spanish flu into a trilogy culminating in penicillin’s wartime story, then reads an excerpt.

Authors Katie and Kevin Tsang introduce their Great Ormond Street Hospital–endorsed Neverland series. 

Egyptologist Joann Fletcher outlines her lifelong work and The Story of Egypt.

Susie Dent explains moving into fiction with Death Writ Large, centered on lexicographers and Oxford history, and reads an opening scene.

Chapters: 

00:29 Speaker Highlights 

02:15 Hugh Bonneville Interview 

05:39 Rory Sparkes Reading 

07:42 Shrabani Basu Interview 

10:46 Victoria & Abdul Reading 

11:54 Derrick Tuke-Hastings on Happiness 

15:33 Rediscovery 

16:21 Santa Montefiore Interview 

19:15 Royal Rabbits Reading 

20:17 Rabbit Pie Peril 

20:55 Dr. Hilary Jones Trilogy Origins 

24:32 Penicillin Miracle Excerpt 

25:41 New Neverland Adventure 

28:31 Joann Fletcher Egypt Story 

33:46 Susie Dent Mystery Shift 

36:22 Oxford Graffiti Clues 

41:12 Festival Reflections Farewell

You can hear more episodes of Lady Carnarvon's Official Podcasts at https://www.ladycarnarvon.com/podcast/

New episodes are published on the first day of every month. 

It seems a fitting tribute to share this podcast which reflects on the last fifty years of Jeffrey's fabulous story telling. We recorded this on the 29th September and had such a joyful morning together.

Fifty years after fourteen publishers turned down Not a Penny More, Not a Penny Less, Jeffrey Archer joins Lady Carnarvon at Highclere to talk about Adam and Eve, the novel he says will be his last.

He explains why he still writes every word by hand on a thirty-two-line Oxford pad in Majorca, and gives a masterclass in what separates a sixteenth draft from a seventeenth, changing four words in a single sentence to show it. He describes the two real men behind Kane and Abel, the nine-day auction that cleared his debts, and why the boy selling pirated copies through a car window in Bombay has his blessing.

Along the way: why the Americans blocked his favourite title, what happened when his Indian publishers told him not to mention cricket, Maggie Smith's gift for throwing a line away, and the peers who mistook a title for an achievement.

And a revelation from the other chair. After seven works of non-fiction, Lady Carnarvon is planning her first novel, and Jeffrey Archer has firm views about the name on the cover.

02:10 First Novels & Book Titles

04:34 India & International Sales

12:14 The Writing Process

15:26 Adam and Eve

20:45 Maggie Smith & Downton Abbey

23:13 From Nonfiction to Fiction

You can hear more episodes of Lady Carnarvon's Official Podcasts at https://www.ladycarnarvon.com/podcast/

New episodes are published on the first day of every month. 

I welcomed one of my hero authors, Michael Morpurgo, and his wife Clare, to Highclere Castle to talk about storytelling, history, the magic of reading, and the extraordinary charity they founded together — Farms for City Children.

Michael shared how War Horse came to life and why understanding the First World War matters more than ever today. We recalled the unforgettable day Joey, the National Theatre's War Horse puppet, came to Highclere in 2014 — walking through the very library where Almina, my predecessor, had nursed soldiers back from the trenches a century before.

Michael told the wonderful story behind Farms for City Children — how Clare, a childhood afternoon let loose near a Devon farm, courtesy of her father Allen Lane, founder of Penguin Books, sparked a lifetime's passion for the countryside, and how that passion became a charity that has given over 120,000 inner-city children a week of real farm life.

We explored the importance of books and reading, handwriting, the friendship with Ted Hughes, the honest editorial partnership between Michael and Clare, and my own plans for a Highclere Literary Festival this October.

We ended with Michael's dream summer evening guest: the radiant Audrey Hepburn.

00:00 Welcome & Introduction
02:10 War Horse & Joey Comes to Highclere
06:30 History, World War I & Why It Still Matters
13:15 The Origins of Farms for City Children
21:45 A Real Farm — Not a Pretend Farm
28:00 Highclere: Farm, History & the Fifth Earl
33:20 The Power of Reading & the Literary Festival
38:10 Writing by Hand, Ted Hughes & the iPad
44:00 Editing, Marriage & Telling the Truth
49:30 Dream Party Guest: Audrey Hepburn

Topics Covered

War Horse & Highclere

• The origins of War Horse and why Michael believes we must understand history to navigate the present
• Lady Carnarvon recalls the day Joey, the War Horse puppet from the National Theatre, came to Highclere in 2014 to mark the centenary of World War I
• Highclere Castle served as a real military hospital during World War I — Lady Carnarvon's predecessor, Almina, nursed soldiers back from the trenches
• The contrast with the fictional Downton Abbey and the very real human stories preserved in letters at Highclere

History, War & Responsibility

• Michael reflects on why the First World War is so important — and how it directly caused the Second
• The role of individuals and political movements in triggering conflict, from Sarajevo to the rise of Hitler
• Why Michael feels it is "timely" to revisit these lessons today, given the state of the world
• Seeing War Horse in the theatre the night before recording — and what it still means to him

Farms for City Children

• Clare's childhood inspiration: sent outside to explore as a young girl near a Devon farm, she fell in love with the countryside, animals, and the rhythm of rural life
• Her father, Allen Lane, founder of Penguin Books, instilled a love of the natural world
• Why Clare and Michael left teaching after realising they weren't reaching the children who needed them most
• How the charity started with one Victorian farmhouse in Devon and has since grown to multiple working farms
• Over 120,000 children have now spent a week on a real farm — milking cows, feeding lambs, grooming horses, doing genuine work
• Meeting former "farm children" now aged 45 with families of their own, who say the experience never left them

Highclere Today — A Living Estate

• Farming records at Highclere dating back to the 16th century; earliest written records from 749 AD
• Lady Carnarvon's rare breed Cornish pigs, Belted Galloway cattle, 1,400 ewes, and 2,500 lambs
• The Iron Age Fort and Bronze Age Tumuli on the estate
• William of Wykeham (1324–1404) — bishop and founder of Winchester College and New College, Oxford — lived at Highclere; it was his palace
• The fifth Earl of Carnarvon, who discovered the Tomb of Tutankhamun, was a voracious reader; his will, written at 21, listed his books as among his most prized possessions

The Power of Reading & Writing

• Why books matter: they let children ask questions, explore mortality, understand the world, and feel less alone
• Michael's beach anecdote — watching his granddaughter's husband read to their one-year-old, with the baby turning the pages back — as a perfect image of how the love of books is passed on
• The importance of parents reading aloud, good libraries, and physical books
• Lady Carnarvon's Highclere Literary Festival — launching this October, with:
  • A children's trail through the gardens (including a wardrobe inspired by Narnia and an entrance to fairyland)
  • The Curious Tent and Speaker's Corner
  • Writing and reading competitions with cash prizes
  • Free entry for under-16s who have read a book or written something
• Lady Carnarvon's campaign for handwriting — the link between brain, hand, and pen

Ted Hughes, Writing by Hand & Technology

• Michael's lifelong habit of writing by hand — and how arthritis in his finger has forced a reluctant move to an iPad
• Neighbour and friend Ted Hughes on why handwriting matters: it keeps the mind and the process in sync
• Michael's delight at discovering he can dictate to his iPad ("It prints it out magically")

Editing, Marriage & Honesty

• Clare as Michael's first editor — "quite unfairly truthful" — and why he always takes her notes even when he doesn't want to
• The ongoing verdict: nothing he's written in the 65 books since War Horse has matched it
• Lady Carnarvon's husband editing her first book and his well-meaning but devastating comment: "Don't worry if nobody reads it — you've still tried very hard"

A Summer Evening Question

• If you could take anyone to Lady Carnarvon's summer jazz evening, who would it be?
  • Clare: Gregory Peck
  • Michael: Audrey Hepburn (Roman Holiday)
• A discussion of Audrey Hepburn's extraordinary grace — and how grace itself is something both Michael and Lady Carnarvon seek in their work and lives

Mentioned in This Episode

• War Horse — Michael Morpurgo (novel, stage production, Steven Spielberg film)
• Waiting for Anya — Michael Morpurgo
• The History Boys — Alan Bennett
• Farms for City Children — farmsforcitvchildren.org
• Highclere Literary Festival — October 2025, Highclere Castle
• Allen Lane — founder of Penguin Books
• Almina, Countess of Carnarvon — WWI hospital at Highclere
• William of Wykeham — founder of Winchester College and New College, Oxford
• The fifth Earl of Carnarvon — discoverer of Tutankhamun's tomb
• Ted Hughes — poet, neighbour of the Morpurgos
• Roman Holiday (1953) — dir. William Wyler, starring Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck

About Lady Carnarvon's Podcast
Lady Carnarvon records her podcast from Highclere Castle, home of the real family whose story inspired Downton Abbey. Episodes explore history, heritage, literature, and the people and ideas that have shaped Highclere and the wider world.

You can hear more episodes of Lady Carnarvon's Official Podcasts at https://www.ladycarnarvon.com/podcast/

New episodes are published on the first day of every month. 

Today, I welcomed author Alex Norman to the podcast to talk about his book on De Havilland’s Moth and the thrilling world of aviation in the 1920s and 30s, a period with such wonderful links to Highclere. 

Alex shared his own family’s connections to early flying, including his grandfather’s aircraft and involvement in the London Aeroplane Club and explained how Geoffrey de Havilland’s ingenuity helped by Frank Halford’s lightweight Cirrus engine made the DH60 Moth a breakthrough for private pilots.

 We explored how government-subsidised flying clubs, adventurous women and men and the freedom of the skies fuelled record-breaking journeys, from Lady Bailey and Amy Johnson to the Aga Khan Trophy winner Aspy Engineer. 

We ended with Alex’s dream dance partner: the remarkable aviator Beryl Markham.

00:56 The de Havilland Family Connection

04:33 Building the First Aeroplane

05:05 Post-War Aviation & The Birth of the Moth

11:35 The Private Flying Movement & Aeroplane Clubs

14:47 Women in Aviation & Record-Breaking Adventures

16:47 The Aga Khan Trophy & Aspi Engineer

21:03 The de Havilland Legacy & The Mosquito

21:59 Dream Party Guest: Beryl Markham

You can hear more episodes of Lady Carnarvon's Official Podcasts at https://www.ladycarnarvon.com/podcast/

New episodes are published on the first day of every month. 

I’m delighted to welcome author and explorer Levison Wood to Highclere, where we talk about my great love; trees and his book, The Great Tree Story: how forests have shaped our world.

 Levison shares how studying the Grand Tour at university inspired his lifelong passion for travel and storytelling, from hitchhiking across Europe and Central Asia to serving as an officer in the Parachute Regiment and deploying to Afghanistan. He recalls founding a production company and undertaking extraordinary long-distance walks, including nine months walking the White Nile from its farthest source to the Mediterranean, followed by the length of the Himalayas and other epic routes. 

We explore what drew him to write about trees, especially an experience with the Asháninka in the Amazon and we discuss ancient yews, cedars, redwoods, Highclere’s planting of 22,000 trees and his plans to adapt The Great Tree Story into a feature documentary.

01:05 Grand Tour Roots

03:26 Modern Travel Risks

04:56 Army Years and Afghanistan

05:49 From Soldier to Storyteller

07:31 Walking the Nile

09:06 More Epic Expeditions

10:33 Planning and Logistics

12:31 Highclere Explorer Heritage

14:30 Why Trees Matter

17:32 Ancient Trees and Estate Planting

19:42 Redwoods and Tree Lore

23:29 Trees in Culture and Craft

24:33 Green Man and Next Film

You can hear more episodes of Lady Carnarvon's Official Podcasts at https://www.ladycarnarvon.com/podcast/

New episodes are published on the first day of every month. 

I welcome Dutch historian Rutger Bregman to the podcast after first messaging him on Instagram and we talk about what I took from his book Humankind and my own wish to bring people together to remember friendship and kindness. 

Rutger reflects on Dutch directness and equality shaped by living with water, from the 1953 flood to the Delta Works, and shares why he writes for a general audience about big questions of human nature. 

We discuss his challenge to the “veneer theory” and his belief in “survival of the friendlies,” alongside a real shipwreck story near Tonga where six boys survived 15 months through cooperation. Our conversation turns to bullying, family and attachment, the Second World War and Rutger’s research for Moral Ambition on how resistance spreads simply by asking others to help.

01:10 Dutch Culture and Directness

04:01 Water Engineering and Delta Works

05:41 Early Civilizations and Conflict

06:58 Why Bregman Writes Big History

08:12 Debunking Human Nature Myths

10:07 Cooperation at Highclere Today

12:49 Tempest and Amoral People

13:55 Real Lord of the Flies Story

19:00 Bullying Attachment and Family

21:41 Victorian Fathers Revisited

22:40 Reform Politics And Women

23:28 Why Study War

24:04 Resistance Myth Debunked

25:24 Heroes Are Asked

27:29 Unconventional Organizers

30:25 Kindness After Loss

32:19 Kindness Is Contagious

35:03 Lessons From Animals

36:18 Veneer Theory And Dickens

37:59 British Indirectness

You can hear more episodes of Lady Carnarvon's Official Podcasts at https://www.ladycarnarvon.com/podcast/

New episodes are published on the first day of every month. 

I’m delighted to welcome historical novelist Caroline Montague to the castle, where we talk about how writing offers a refuge from everyday life and how she protects her creative time in her office with her dogs. Caroline shares the remarkable history of Burnt Norton, its links to T.S. Eliot’s “Four Quartets,” and the dramatic tale of Sir William Kite, whose scandal, bankruptcy, and death by fire helped give the house its name, alongside stories of the “white lady” said to haunt the top floor. 

We discuss her path from law and interior design to writing, her planning process shaped by a firm agent, shifting titles and covers, and her current rewrite of a book about a famous royal swap. We also chat about spaniels, horses and the comfort animals bring.

00:49 Writing Routine and Space

01:35 Career Path to Author

02:41 Burnt Norton and TS Eliot

04:42 William Kite House Tragedy

07:02 Ghost Stories White Lady

09:51 House History and Hauntings

11:25 Plotting Process and Ideas

13:16 Deadlines Output and Titles

15:18 Rewriting The Hook

16:08 Jigsaw Writing Method

17:17 Past Healing Present

18:17 Woods And Creativity

18:35 Spaniel Life And Social Media

19:59 Dressage Highs And Loss

21:09 New Horse Gio

22:33 Italy And Spanish Stallions

25:08 Books Animals And Imagination

You can hear more episodes of Lady Carnarvon's Official Podcasts at https://www.ladycarnarvon.com/podcast/

New episodes are published on the first day of every month. 

 I’m delighted to welcome the novelist Emily Howes to the castle to talk about her book The Painter’s Daughters, inspired by Gainsborough’s portraits of his two girls and the striking shift from their lively childhood images to a stiffer, unhappier adulthood. 

Emily shares how she researched 18th-century Bath, its muddy, smelly, party-like medical culture, through visits and sources such as James Hamilton’s biography, Letters from Bath, and books on travel, while noting how little survives from the daughters’ own voices. 

We discuss Molly’s documented illness and Emily’s discovery of a possible porphyria link to the Prince of Wales, as well as Gainsborough’s finances, his wife’s hidden savings, and the sisters’ relationship, which Emily likens to Downton Abbey’s sister dynamics. 

Emily also previews her next novel, Mrs Dickens, exploring Catherine Dickens’s erasure after Dickens left her for Ellen Turner and the fate of their children.

00:46 Why the Daughters

03:20 Bath After Covid

05:57 Money and Marriage

08:18 Research and Sources

09:27 Molly Illness Mystery

12:21 Sisters and Downton

16:05 Blue Boy and Imagination

17:25 Gainsborough at Highclere

22:23 Next Book Mrs Dickens

24:35 Dickens Family Fallout

27:53 Catherine After Separation

You can hear more episodes of Lady Carnarvon's Official Podcasts at https://www.ladycarnarvon.com/podcast/

New episodes are published on the first day of every month. 

In this episode from Highclere Castle, I sit down with Nick Hopton to talk about his book, "Marma Mia," which begins as the story of buying and restoring a holiday house in an unspoiled part of Tuscany, the Maremma and becomes a wider family and personal journey. 

Nick shares how reading "A Year in Provence" during COVID while he was British Ambassador to Libya helped inspire him to write a feel-good book that encourages readers to discover lesser-known regions. 

We discuss his Foreign Office career and his approach to languages, including learning Arabic across postings such as Morocco, Yemen, Qatar and Libya, along with French, Italian, Spanish, some German, and some Farsi ahead of becoming ambassador to Iran after the 2015 nuclear deal and the reopening of the British embassy. 

Nick explains how a friend’s suggestion to look beyond Chianti led serendipitously to the first house they viewed and ultimately boughtalongside the realities of renovating abroad: high costs, practical challenges, and the highs and lows of making a place work for family life. We also talk about his unexpected love of landscaping and working with a skilled digger operator he calls “Michelangelo,” the region’s food, wine, local olive oil and its strong Tuscan accent. 

Nick recounts a memorable moment when a friend arrived with an armed escort and the town’s mayor turned out to greet them, and he updates me on ongoing projects, including drilling a 97-meter well to reach a fresh aquifer. Looking ahead, Nick describes writing best in the relative isolation of the Italian house and shares his interest in writing more broadly about the Mediterranean, linked to his role creating a new program at the University of Cambridge Centre for Geopolitics. We touch on the Napoleonic history of the area, including the principality of Piombino and Lucca and Napoleon’s sister Elisa and end with a playful question about a dream dance guest Nick chooses Dante’s Beatrice, reflecting his early love of Dante’s poetry and its lifelong influence.

00:00 Meet Nick Hopton & the book ‘Marma Mia’ (restoring a house in Italy)

00:50 Inspired by ‘A Year in Provence’: writing a feel-good travel memoir during COVID

01:59 Diplomatic life & learning languages: Arabic, French, Italian (and more)

04:26 Why you should speak the local language (even with bad grammar)

05:17 Falling for Tuscany’s Maremma: the serendipitous house-buying story

07:42 Renovation reality: highs, lows, and why the Maremma stays authentic

08:44 Landscaping obsession: diggers, Kubotas, and ‘Michelangelo’ the operator

11:05 Food, wine & dialect: tomatoes, olive oil, and the Tuscan accent

12:49 Small-town surprises: the ambassador friend visit and the mayor’s welcome

13:43 The work never ends: is the villa project ever really finished?

14:01 Digging a 97m Well & the Never-Ending House Project

14:27 What’s Next After the Book: A Wider Mediterranean Focus

14:58 Seeing the Mediterranean Holistically (Cambridge Geopolitics & Trade Routes)

16:26 Duff Cooper, John Julius Norwich & Highclere’s Colorful Guests

17:20 Writing Habits: Tuscany, Isolation, Rhythm & Beating Procrastination

18:37 Italy, Maremma & Napoleonic History: Elisa and the Principality of Piombino and Lucca

20:30 Diplomatic Postings & Reopening the UK Embassy in Iran (2015)

23:09 Iran Today: Regime Weakness, Protests, and a Hope to Visit the Cradle of Civilization

24:21 Highclere’s Library, the Book Club, and a Shared Love of Italy

25:27 Finale: The Summer Dance Fantasy Guest—Dante, Beatrice & Vita Nova

You can hear more episodes of Lady Carnarvon's Official Podcasts at https://www.ladycarnarvon.com/podcast/

New episodes are published on the first day of every month.