Highclere Insider : David Sox
The Man Who Knew Too Much
A NEW BOOK IN 2022
BY WILLIAM CROSS, FSA SCOT
William Cross, FSA Scot, author of several books on the Carnarvons of Highclere, investigates the story of the biography of Almina, Countess of Carnarvon, written by Rev. H. David Sox, a visitor guide at Highclere Castle in the 1990s. The biography was never published. Cross reveals the trail of lies, deceit and hypocrisy by Sox and other biographers in writing the life of Almina, 5th Countess of Carnarvon.
Lady Almina Carnarvon
and
The Spanish Community in Paris and London
Lady Almina’s biographer , William Cross, FSA Scot, writes:
The Spanish-Chilean community in London and Paris was that indebted to Lady Almina Carnarvon, the subject of my biography “ The Life and Secrets of Almina Carnarvon” they gave her a medal. Their gratitude was of such a magnitude that she was recognised with the important award of “ Officer” of the Order of Merit. I have a copy of the scroll that accompanied the award, the original of which is preserved in the Royal Archives at Windsor Castle. The medal was given to non-Chileans who had achieved distinction not only in the realms of diplomacy and politics but also in doing charitable works.
In November 1935, Almina received a letter from Buckingham Palace on behalf of King George V advising her that she had been awarded the insignia of “Officer of the Chilean Order of Merit” for her medical services, and giving instructions as to how to wear the medal at Court etc functions.
As the Mayfair proprietor- cum Matron- of Alfred House Nursing Home, at 7-9, Portland Place, London, Almina had given help and comfort, and in many cases medical treatment to several members of displaced Spanish Royal Family, and that family’s much wider counterparts in the Spanish speaking – Spanish influenced regions of the world. Almina’s help was also given to diplomats and their families serving their country in Europe, during the years leading to the bloody Spanish Civil War.
This particular recognition from a South American country (given only to notable foreigners) gave Almina enormous pride. She spoke some passable Spanish, her family genes contained Spanish blood, the blood of a country whose many tribes had conquered the trade routes of the world and those wealthy families had intermarried over the centuries along with those from adjoining North African races and tallied also with the influx of Middle Eastern races.
William Cross is the Author of “ The Life and Secrets of Almina Carnarvon” : A Candid Biography of Almina, 5th Countess of Carnarvon, of Tutankhamun fame.
His new book “Lady Carnarvon’s Nursing Homes: Nursing the Privileged in Wartime and Peace” will be available from 15 October 2011.
Contact Will by e-mail at williecross@aol.comm