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Queen Elizabeth’s 73-year marriage to Prince Philip was well known to the world, but there was another special man in the reigning monarch’s life.
In Season 3 of Netflix’s “The Crown,” audiences were introduced to Porchey, or Lord Porchester, the sovereign’s longtime racing manager and one of her dearest pals. Their lasting bond is explored in a book, written by former Vanity Fair editor Tina Brown ahead of the Platinum Jubilee, titled “The Palace Papers: Inside the House of Windsor – the Truth and the Turmoil.”
The bombshell book explores “the scandals, love affairs, power plays and betrayals” that have rocked the British royals during the last 20 years. It features new revelations based on Brown’s access to palace insiders.
The bestselling author previously wrote a biography on the Princess of Wales titled “The Diana Chronicles,” which was published in 2007.
Queen Elizabeth’s decades-long friendship with Lord Porchester is explored in Tina Brown’s book “The Palace Papers.”
(Roger Jackson/Central Press/Getty Images)
In an excerpt obtained by Fox News Digital, Brown described how the Earl of Carnarvon, born Henry George Reginald Molyneux Herbert, was one of the queen’s closest confidants throughout her decades-long reign.
“The queen shared the greatest passion of her life with someone else,” Brown wrote. “Despite Philip’s love of equestrian sports, he didn’t share his wife’s obsession with the horses themselves. Bloodstock is the subject that brings the queen most alive, and that was the unchallenged realm of her closest male friend, Henry George Reginald Molyneux Herbert, seventh Earl of Carnarvon.”
The aristocrat, who possessed a fortune estimated at $100 million, served as the queen’s racing manager for more than 30 years. He was the son of the sixth earl and his American wife, Catherine Wendell of New York. Known to his friends as “Porchey,” he studied at Eton and excelled at boxing. He also served with the Royal Horse Guards during World War II. He quickly developed a passion for horse racing from watching his father.
Porchey could have been an ideal suitor for the then-princess. Brown wrote that he “was one of those low-key aristocrats much richer than you would expect.”
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Highclere Castle, the country seat of the Earl of Carnarvon, which was also the location for the television program “Downton Abbey.”
(Getty Images)
The earl’s family seat is Highclere Castle, which is now known as the set for “Downton Abbey.” In 1988, he opened the castle to the public after he learned from a family butler that about 300 Egyptian antiques, bought by his grandfather, were hidden away and remained undisturbed in unused rooms for more than 70 years.
Porchey’s grandfather, the fifth Earl of Carnarvon, was sponsored by archeologist Howard Carter in the search for King Tutankhamen’s tomb in Egypt. He died of blood poisoning after a mosquito bite in 1923, just four months after the tomb’s entrance was found.
Porchey’s life forever changed when he was just a teenager. He was asked by George VI to squire his young daughter, Princess Elizabeth, to race meetings. They quickly bonded over their mutual love of horses and were known as dancing partners. He went to join the royal’s singing group at Buckingham Palace after the war.
“Porchey, as he was known from an earlier title of Lord Porchester, was the queen’s racing manager from 1969 to the end of his life,” Brown wrote. “No one other than family enjoyed the same kind of intimacy with the queen. He was one of the few people who had Her Majesty’s mobile phone number, and called her almost every day with the hot horse news, often holding up the phone at bloodstock sales where he was bidding on her behalf so she could hear the action.”
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Queen Elizabeth and Porchey bonded over their love of horses.
(Daily Mirror/Mirrorpix/Mirrorpix via Getty Images)
“He was her companion at nearly every race, her consigliere on private visits to stud farms in Kentucky, her partner in her obsession with breeding, fettle and form,” she shared. “Their bond was much deeper than racing manager and monarch. They were partners in the pursuit that gave the dutiful queen untrammeled pleasure.”
Brown noted that for years, there was speculation that Porchey and Elizabeth were much more than friends. It’s a rumor that was also fueled by the hit Netflix series decades later. However, Porchey himself revealed, “Her Majesty is my lifelong best friend.” Over the years, royal experts have also insisted that their relationship was platonic and nothing more.
“The queen’s affinity with Porchey was so deep there were rumors it could have been something more,” wrote Brown. “Once upon a time, London gossips loved to talk about a strong resemblance between Prince Andrew’s coarsely handsome mug and Carnarvon’s, but I see neither likeness nor likelihood there.”
“Porchey more resembled a refined Alfred Molina in a fedora, and was authentically furious when romantic rumors first began to fly,” Brown shared. “He was the queen’s devoted cavaliere servente, ready to defend her to the last and, no doubt, a source of strength when Philip’s restless frustrations left her feeling exposed.”
Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh, left, talk to racing manager Lord Porchester at Newbury Races, England, Sept. 30, 1969.
(Roger Jackson/Central Press/Getty Images)
In 1956, Porchey followed in his father’s footsteps and married an American – Jean Margaret Wallop of Wyoming. In 1969, he took charge of the queen’s horse racing business before he inherited the title of earl. He also managed his family stud at Highclere, when he took over in 1978.
Porchey and the queen’s friendship spanned six decades. Their “lively discussions” about horses were well known within the palace. They remained close until his death in 2001 at age 77 from a heart attack. While the queen rarely attends funerals outside the family she attended his, as well as his wife’s when she died in 2019. Today Porchey’s son, the eighth Earl of Carnarvon, and his wife live at Highclere Castle.
The queen’s beloved husband, the Duke of Edinburgh, passed away in 2021 at age 99.
This year, Elizabeth is marking 70 years on the throne. She is expected to appear on the Buckingham Palace balcony following the Trooping the Colour Parade on June 2 and greet the public alongside senior members of her family.
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Queen Elizabeth and Porchey were close friends and nothing more, royal experts have long insisted.
(Douglas Miller/Keystone/Getty Images)
Buckingham Palace shared that the queen’s attendance at events through the Platinum Jubilee weekend will likely only be confirmed on “the day itself.”
Despite having mobility issues, the queen has been making surprise appearances during the Platinum Jubilee season. She recently made her first public appearance in weeks when she attended the Royal Windsor Horse Show, where she watched her beloved equines perform. She was also the guest of honor at an equestrian show near Windsor, where Hollywood stars like Tom Cruise and Helen Mirren were guests.
Soon after, Elizabeth made an appearance at a train station in London to see a newly completed subway line named in her honor.
Buckingham Palace called the visit “a happy development,” noting that “the organizers were informed of the possibility she may attend.”
The Associated Press contribued to this report.
