The Real-Life Lady of Downton Abbey Shares How Similar Her Life Is To The Show

By Laura Hanrahan (original source Woman’s Day)

“You likely don’t know Lady Fiona Carnarvon, eighth Countess of Carnarvon. But you probably know a little bit about her life and her home of Highclere Castle thanks to a not-so-little show called Downton Abbey. Or at least you think you do.

Although Lady Carnarvon and her husband Geroge Herbert, the Eighth Earl of Carnarvon, are the real-life counterparts of Downton Abbey’s Lord Robert and Lady Cora Grantham, she says that they’re “truly not very similar at all.”

‘It’s much more hands-on, it’s much more pro-active,” Lady Carnarvon tells Woman’s Day during a recent press trip to the estate. “Cora is living in a different century. Today, I’m running events, marketing, branding, there’s a computer system, an accountant. I’m going on the bicycle to go walk the dogs, see the gardeners, down to the farm to see the pigs, feed the chickens, and then that’s the first part of the day before I’ve even started.'”