If anybody is interested, William Cross has written a highly detailed biography of Almina Carnarvin (neé Wombwell), wife of Lord Cararvon.
I have finally finished my review of the book and published it on Egyptological. Alternatively, you can go straight to the author's home page for the book for more details.
The Adopted
2 months ago
4 comments:
Very interesting review, Kate. I, personally, think there can be little doubt that Lady Almina was the daughter of Lord Alfred de Rothschild. In some of her portraits, her oriental looks are quite apparent [she resembles some of the other Rothschilds] and Lord Alfred not only acknowledged her but gave her and Lord Carnarvon a lot of money while he lived. And Almina, in due course, inherited much of Lord Alfred's fortune. In those days, it was quite common for titled Englishmen to marry the daughters of Jewish financiers for the very reason of their financial connections and expectations. Rothschild, Sassoon, Jerome, etc.--ended up with their women becoming countesses of landed gentlemen. Even Lord Louis Mountbatten married the granddaughter of a Jewish financier and a great heiress. Her grandfather, Sir Ernest Cassel, had been a friend of King Edward, the two of them looking so much alike that that Cassel was sometimes mistaken for the sovereign. The persistent rumor is that even Prince Albert, husband of Victoria, was the son of a Jewish officer who was not his mother's husband. There is quite a story attached to the unhappy childhood of the prince.
Yes, well equally, it could be argued from this rather flimsy evidence base of look-alikes that Marie Boyer, Almina’s mother ( whose picture appears in “The Life and Secrets of Almina Carnarvon” has an oriental look. That might also explain Lady Evelyn’s features, as indeed might the Spanish –South American influence from Marie’s mother’s side, also mentioned in my book. So the Rothschild-look is unconvincing. Where is the evidence of substance? I held back making any comment as I felt that the uncertainty over Almina Wombwell’s paternity might be cleared up by the Highclere biography, published this week. I hoped I would learn something worthwhile about Alfred and Marie and Almina that had escaped my several years of researches. But this didn’t happen. There is no such evidence at all. Indeed the writer declares “ …. the question of Almina’s paternity can’t be conclusively determined with any certainty….” Indeed! With respect, there are competent Rothschild, Wombwell and Herbert bloodlines and so potentially blood samples in existence to settle the issue by a DNA test. Indeed, I made such a statement in my book.
I haven't seen a picture of Marie Boyer so can have no opinion about her looks. But if a picture is worth a thousand words money talks even louder. If you doubt that Lord Alfred was the father of Almina, can you explain why she inherited the bulk of his estate? When there are so many charities, why would a millionaire make an heiress out of a woman whom he was sure was no relative of his? And why would a peer like Carnarvon, who needed to marry a wealthy woman, choose someone whose expectations he doubted because her tie to Rothschild was "flimsy" and that the financier had no interest in the girl becoming a countess? Perhaps you should trust more in the opinion of the time as to the paternity. Just because people didn't come out in those days, doesn't necessarily mean others weren't aware of or did not suspect their orientation if that was not of the heterosexual variety.
Thanks for your remarks. The task of compiling Almina’s biography required me to outline every option and present the evidence for and against her father being Alfred de Rothschild or some other man. Once that narrative is set out in the book it is a matter of leaving it to others to make up their own mind on the basis of that evidence ( or lack of it ) of who fits the bill. The four year gap before Almina’s birth was registered and then the name of the estranged Frederick Wombwell appearing on her birth certificate as her father seems at variance with the state of the relationship between Marie and Fred at the time. However since Alfred had agreed to marry another woman at the time that Marie was at least four months pregnant that is also at odds with Almina being Alfred’s love child. The jury is still out on whether she was begat by Fred or Alfred or another man. I am not seeking to convince anyone one way or the other, in favour or against Fred or Alfred but the fall back of a DNA test would be conclusive. There are living relations on all sides of the fence. Of course that’s not going to happen, in the same way that other bloodlines challenged in the book will be proved or disproved. That is the family’s right of privacy. With respect, it seems you have a heady opinion that won’t be budged. You are, of course, entitled to your view. I am pleased to say that the interesting questions you raise are all answered in my book.
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