Jean Herbert, Countess of Carnarvon
Jean Margaret "Jeanie" Herbert, Countess of Carnarvon,, was an American-born British aristocrat and chatelaine of Highclere Castle.
Early life and family
Jean Margaret Wallop was born on 29 April 1935 in Big Horn, Wyoming, to The Hon. Oliver Malcolm Wallop and his wife Jean McGinley Moore. Her paternal grandfather Oliver Wallop, 8th Earl of Portsmouth, had emigrated to Wyoming and served in the Wyoming State Legislature before inheriting the British earldom of Portsmouth. Her maternal great-grandfather was American attorney and financier William Henry Moore.Wallop had two older brothers, including Malcolm Wallop, United States Senator for Wyoming, and one younger sister. Her mother died when she was seven. She was educated at Garrison Forest School before briefly studying nursing at the University of Colorado.
Marriage and issue
In 1954, while visiting family in England, Jean met Henry Herbert, Lord Porchester. They married on 7 January 1956 at St. James' Episcopal Church in Manhattan. They had three children:- George Reginald Oliver Molyneux Herbert, 8th Earl of Carnarvon The Honourable Henry Malcolm Herbert
- Lady Carolyn Penelope Herbert
In May 1979, she founded the Newbury Spring Festival, a classical music festival in Newbury. She served as the festival's president from its inception until her death. The Earl and Countess of Carnarvon opened Highclere Castle to the public in 1988, displaying treasures the 5th Earl collected during the discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamun. For her services to Newbury, she was made a Member of the Order of the British Empire in the 2000 New Year Honours.
Carnarvon died of old age at home on 11 April 2019. Her funeral, held on 25 April 2019 at the Church of St Michael and All Angels, Highclere, was attended by Queen Elizabeth II.