Almina Herbert, Countess of Carnarvon

Almina Herbert, Countess of Carnarvon (née Wombwell; 14 April 1876 – 28 May 1969), was the wife of George Herbert, 5th Earl of Carnarvon, and châtelaine of Highclere Castle in Hampshire. After her second marriage, she became Mrs Almina Dennistoun, although she called herself Almina Carnarvon. It was her wealth that funded the search for Tutankhamun's tomb in Egypt. She was born Almina Victoria Maria Alexandra Wombwell, in Mayfair, London, the nominal child of Marie "Mina" Wombwell (née Boyer), the French wife of Captain Frederick Charles Wombwell, a businessman and retired British Army officer. However, her biological father was the banker Alfred de Rothschild, of the Rothschild family, who provided her with considerable wealth. This included a £500,000 trust on her marriage and, on Rothschild's death in 1918, £50,000 and his Mayfair house with its art collection, much of which she sold. On 26 June 1895, aged 19, she married George Edward Stanhope Molyneux Herbert, 5th Earl of Carnarvon at St Margaret's, Westminster. The couple had two children: Henry Herbert, 6th Earl of Carnarvon (1898–1987), who married Anne Catherine Tredick Wendell and had one son, (the 7th Earl) and one daughter. Lady Evelyn Leonora Almina Herbert (1901–1980), who married Sir Brograve Campbell Beauchamp, 2nd Bt. and had a daughter. At the beginning of the First World War, Lady Carnarvon opened a hospital for war wounded at Highclere Castle, helping with the organisation and assisting as a nurse. The hospital later moved to Mayfair in London. In 1919, Lady Carnarvon turned down an appointment as a Commander of the Order of the British Empire for her war work. The Earl of Carnarvon developed an interest in Egyptology and became the financial backer of the search for Tutankhamun's tomb in the Valley of the Kings, Egypt, assisted by Almina's wealth. The Earl often wintered in Egypt. Almina accompanied him in the earlier years, but was not present in November 1922 at the opening of the newly discovered tomb.