Hij heeft/had een relatie met Almina Victoria Maria Alexandra Wombwell.
Kind(eren):
Egyptology
Lord Carnarvon was an enthusiastic amateur Egyptologist, and Lord and Lady Carnarvon often spent their winters in Egypt, where they bought antiquities for their collection in England.[8]
Lord Carnarvon, his daughter Lady Evelyn Herbert and Howard Carter at the top of the steps leading to the newly discovered tomb of Tutankhamun, November 1922.[10]
In 1907 Lord Carnarvon undertook to sponsor the excavation of nobles' tombs in Deir el-Bahri, near Thebes. He employed Howard Carter to undertake the work,[11] on the recommendation of Gaston Maspero, Director of the Egyptian Antiquities Department.[12]
In 1914 Lord Carnarvon received the concession to dig in the Valley of the Kings, replacing Theodore Davis who had resigned, Carter again leading the work. Excavations were interrupted during the First World War, but resumed in late 1917.[8] By 1922 little of significance had been found and Lord Carnarvon decided this would be the final year he would fund the work.[13] However, on 4 November 1922, Carter was able to send a telegram to Lord Carnarvon, in England, saying:
"At last we have made wonderful discovery in Valley; a magnificent tomb with seals intact; re-covered same for your arrival; congratulations".[8]
Although a semi-invalid due to injuries sustained in a serious automobile accident in 1903,[14] Lord Carnarvon, accompanied by his daughter Lady Evelyn Herbert, returned to Egypt. The tomb was to be officially opened under the supervision of the Egyptian Department of Antiquities on 29 November. However, on 26 and 27 November Carter, his assistant Arthur Challender, Lord Carnarvon and Lady Evelyn made several unauthorised visits inside the tomb[15] and were present when Carter made a tiny breach in the top left hand corner of the tomb's doorway. He was able to peer in by the light of a candle. Carnarvon asked, "Can you see anything?" Carter replied with the famous words: "Yes, wonderful things!"[16] They then entered the tomb,[17] becoming the first people in modern times to do so. Challender rigged up electric lighting, illuminating a jumble of items, including gilded couches, chests, thrones, and shrines. They also found two more sealed doorways, including one to the inner burial chamber,[15] guarded by two life-size statues of Tutankhamun. A small passage was found in this doorway and Carter, Carnarvon and Lady Evelyn crawled through it into the inner burial chamber.[8]
Lord Carnarvon travelled to England in December 1922, returning in January 1923 to be present at the official opening of the inner burial chamber on 16 February.[18] Towards the end of February a rift with Carter, probably caused by a disagreement on how to manage the supervising Egyptian authorities, temporarily closed excavation. Work recommenced in early March after Carnarvon apologised.[19] This was to be Lord Carnarvon's last significant involvement in the excavation project, he falling seriously ill shortly afterwards.
Death
Lord Carnarvon's tomb on Beacon Hill
On 19 March 1923, Carnarvon suffered a severe mosquito bite which became infected by a razor cut. On 5 April, he died in the Continental-Savoy Hotel in Cairo.[20] Fueled by author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's suggestion that Carnarvon's death had been caused by "elementals" created by Tutankhamun's priests to guard the royal tomb;[21] the "Curse of Tutankhamun," or, the "Mummy's Curse," entered popular culture. Arthur Weigall had reported, six weeks before his death, that he had watched Lord Carnarvon laughing and joking as he'd entered King Tut's tomb, and had remarked to nearby reporter H. V. Morton, "I give him six weeks to live."[22] A mystical writer working under the name Marie Corelli also declared in a letter published by the New York World magazine that she had warned the Earl (two weeks before his death) of the "dire punishment" likely to occur to those who rifle Egyptian tombs, claiming to cite an ancient book that indicated that poisons had been left after burials.[23][24]
A study of documents and scholarly sources led The Lancet to conclude as unlikely that Carnarvon's death had anything to do with Tutankhamun's tomb, refuting another theory that exposure to toxic fungi (mycotoxins) had contributed to his demise. Although he was one of the men to enter the tomb, on several occasions, none of the other 25 from Europe were affected in the months after the entries.[14] The cause of Carnarvon's death was reported as "'pneumonia supervening on [facial] erysipelas,' (a streptococcal infection of the skin and underlying soft tissue). Pneumonia was thought to be only one of various complications, arising from the progressively invasive infection, that eventually resulted in multiorgan failure."[25] The Earl had been "prone to frequent and severe lung infections" according to The Lancet and there had been a "general belief ... that one acute attack of bronchitis could have killed him. In such a debilitated state, the Earl's immune system was easily overwhelmed by erysipelas".[14]
Lady Almina Carnarvon removed Lord Carnarvon's remains to England,[26] where his tomb appropriately reflects his archaeological interest, nestled within an ancient hill fort overlooking his family seat at Beacon Hill, Burghclere, Hampshire.[27] Carnarvon was survived by his wife Almina, who subsequently remarried, and their two children.
After Lord Carnarvon's death, the Egyptian government took ownership of the artifacts in the East Valley of the Kings and in April 1930 provided a grant of £35,000 to his heirs