Lady Almina and the Real Downton Abbey by The Countess of Carnarvon

businesslike, as befitted a man with a great deal of responsibility.
    Streatfield did the household accounts, ordered provisions and was in charge of the wine cellars and the silver safe, where the family plate was kept under lock and key. The safe was vast, a walk-in room, and contained some famous pieces collected by the great connoisseur, the Earl of Chesterfield, as well as jewellery and other heirlooms. It was carefully wrapped and stored in muslins on baize-covered shelves.
    Streatfield had mutton-chop whiskers and a habit of dropping his aitches where they needed to be and adding them where they didn’t. He was remembered by the 6th Earl as unflappable, utterly devoted to Lord Carnarvon and even more devoted to Highclere, a man who never let his professional manner slip but who had a soft spot for children. He would ruffle Porchy’s hair when he was a very little boy, a gesture of familiarity that Streatfield, with perfect timing, dropped when the young lord went off to Eton from prep school. It wasn’t until 1897 that he married a teacher from Essex called Edith Andrews and moved into one of the grace-and-favour cottages in the park.
    Streatfield’s bedroom was one of the larger rooms on thefirst floor of the staff wing. The footmen and the groom of the bedchambers, Roberts, had smaller rooms, all well within Streatfield’s orbit so that he could keep an eye on them. The footmen’s rooms looked out over the courtyard and the grooms and coachmen lived over the stables, which formed the other three sides of the yard.
    Mr Roberts’s position was a relatively unusual one; it was a mark of great luxury to have a groom of the bedchamber. Alfred had such a person in his household, and Almina, like Alfred, found having someone in the role extremely useful. Roberts was a sort of valet ‘at large’. He was tasked with a host of little details, from ensuring that Lord and Lady Carnarvon never ran out of writing paper or ink in their bedrooms, to being in charge of calling cards from visitors, announcing guests and liaising with Fearnside, the Earl’s fiercely loyal valet, and Miss Adams. His remit was extended to cover the house parties when there were guests. Roberts’s overall responsibility was to ensure that everyone’s stay was exquisite.
    The housekeeper at the start of Almina’s time at Highclere was Mrs Emily Bridgland. Her title was given as a courtesy, as she was in fact single. Mrs Bridgland had her sitting room next to Streatfield’s, but whereas his was dark and full of heavy furniture, hers had a lighter touch and was more comfortable. She had two sofas covered in brocade and a large rosewood lounge chair, as well as a writing desk and sewing machine. She knew where all the keys to each room were and kept the key to the china cupboards, which lay not far from her sitting room, on a chain around her waist. As with Streatfield and his silver, she guarded the china fiercely.
    Every day at 10.00 a.m., Mrs Bridgland made her way up the staff stairs to the ground floor of the Castle. Lady Carnarvon’s sitting room was directly underneath her bedroom and could be quietly reached from various private stairs. Almina had just redecorated. It now had a thick, dusky pink carpet, and the delicate Georgian plasterwork was complemented by soft pink walls, against which hung a charming collection of paintings and miniatures. It was a peaceful room, full of light, in which she could discuss household matters in privacy with Mrs Bridgland. As in everything at Highclere, the structures below stairs mirrored life upstairs, so just as Mrs Bridgland and Streatfield had their sitting rooms next door to one another, so too did Lord and Lady Carnarvon. Mrs Bridgland could ask Lady Carnarvon for her instructions and discuss plans for the day: what time guests were arriving and departing, the entertainments planned for the afternoon, the menus for lunch and dinner. Once they had concluded their business, Mrs Bridgland retraced