AUGUST 14 — Deep in the green and pleasant rolling hills of the central southern English countryside, a few miles outside the old market town of Newbury, lies a grand and historic aristocratic residence: Highclere Castle, the seat of the Earl of Carnarvon for more than 350 years.
Approaching the castle along a winding mile-long driveway, passing through attractive gardens designed by the renowned 18th century landscape architect Capability Brown, the view suddenly becomes rather familiar.
That driveway, that solid, square block design, that flag, that tree… ah yes, now it becomes clear: this property might be officially entitled Highclere Castle but it is better known around the world as Downton Abbey, one of British television’s most successful exports of recent years.
Although the drama was set in Yorkshire in the north of England, the actual primary location for the filming was here at Highclere, allowing the current Earl and Lady Carnarvon to seize upon the success of the series by opening up the doors of their stately home to intrigued tourists for a hefty entrance fee.
And those tourists have flocked in their thousands, taking the opportunity to gawp at the ancient books in the library, picture themselves residing in the guest bedrooms and imagine the serving of a grand banquet at the sumptuously set dining table.
In case you are not familiar with the show, Downton Abbey tells the tale of the aristocratic Crawley family during the turbulent early years of the 20th century, encompassing ground breaking social and political events such as the First World War, the granting of voting rights for women, the Spanish flu epidemic and the rise of a new middle class.
And although it may initially appear to be the least dramatic of those storylines, it is the latter — the relatively sudden emancipation and enrichment of previously downtrodden labouring classes — which perhaps gives Downton Abbey its greatest appeal.
The series depicts a way of life — the British Empire’s aristocrats — which once dominated the globe but has now largely disappeared. It tells the tale of a world where kings and queens, earls and countesses, lords and ladies, reigned supreme. Breeding and class was everything, social divisions were clearly defined and everybody knew their place in the pecking order.
Downton offers a fascinating slice of history as that centuries-old social system is slowly cast aside and Highclere, as the ancestral home of one of the British ruling class’s leading families, is a piece of living history all by itself.
For starters, the fact that Highclere is best known as the setting for a mainstream television drama and can be visited as a tourist attraction is hugely revealing, illustrating the dramatic shift in the balance of power over the last century.
In days gone by, it simply was not possible for the masses to set foot inside such hallowed grounds except by gaining employment as a domestic servant. The separation between rulers and the rest was complete and unchallenged, and mobility between the two groups was almost non-existent as the aristocracy enjoyed self-contained lives within their own social domain.
Now, the fortunes of the former ruling classes have fallen so sharply that the Carnarvons have felt it necessary to bolster their fortune by allowing their family home to be invaded for weeks on end by television production crews and tourists — something which would have been unthinkable just a few decades ago.
The elites of Great Britain have certainly not disappeared entirely: Highclere Castle is still owned by an aristocratic family and the current Earl of Carnarvon, George Herbert (also known as Lord Porchester), is the godson of none other than Queen Elizabeth II.
And Britain can hardly claim to have become a country of equality when the recently departed Prime Minister, David Cameron, and the man who effectively forced him out of office, Boris Johnson, both attended the same uber-elite school, Eton College – which was also, not without coincidence, the educational home of the Earl of Carnarvon.
The tides, however, have turned and the exalted status of the former ruling classes is being continually eroded, exemplified by the widespread fascination in Downton’s depiction of their faded glory and the renaissance of Highclere Castle as a tourist attraction.
Most people would agree this is a good thing. The elimination of wealth by birth is a cornerstone of a just, egalitarian and democratic society, and few will bemoan the fact that aristocratic families now have to work for their money rather than having a life of luxury handed to them by inheritance.
But it is a complex issue, and without doubt the recent Brexit vote was in significant part motivated by a sentimental, romantic yearning for those old times of Downton Abbey, when effortlessly classy lords and gentlemen were waited upon by eager maids and salt-of-the-earth footmen, who knew their place in the world and were content to play their part in maintaining social order.
It is also true that the power vacuum created by the relative decline of aristocratic powers has not led to a more equal Britain, because their place has effectively just been filled by a new form of ruling class, the business elite. Change is often but not always good, and taking away from one hand does not necessarily mean feeding another.
The fate of Highclere gives us a glimpse of an elitist world which was once dominant but is now hanging on by its fingernails to remain relevant. Perhaps ironically, the short-term future of the house has been secured by a television show; but the long-term remains unclear, and uncertain.
