The Queen's Old Friend Returns in The Crown's New Season
The third season of The Crown brings back your favorite royals to the screen, along with politicians and members of their inner circle. Among those familiar names is Porchey, or Lord Porchester, a longtime close friend of Queen Elizabeth II.
We first encountered the beloved stable hand and royal racing manager in the first two seasons of the Netflix series, and much like other characters on the show, his role was also recast for the new season: Porchey goes from Joseph Kloska to John Hollingworth for Season 3.
As the show continues to explore the lasting bond between Porchey and the queen, here's what you need to know about one of the sovereign's dearest friends.
His real name is Henry Herbert, 7th Earl of Carnarvon.
Henry was born in Highclere on January 19, 1924, and given the courtesy title of Lord Porchester as the son of the 6th Earl of Carnarvon. (That's where the nickname Porchey came from.) He succeeded his father and inherited his title in 1987, according to The Telegraph.
He lived at Downton Abbey.
The Earl of Carnarvon's family seat (where he was also born) is Highclere Castle—which you might now know as the set for Downton Abbey.
In 1989, he opened the castle to the public for the first time after finding about 300 Egyptian antiques bought by his grandfather, hidden away and stored in the property, per The Telegraph.
Today, Porchey's son, the 8th Earl of Carnarvon, and his wife, the Countess of Carnarvon, live at the iconic residence.
He and the queen became close friends at a young age.
Porchey and Princess Elizabeth met in 1944, when she was 17 and he was 20, according to The Telegraph. His father (who was also called Porchey) knew the king at the time (Elizabeth's father) and "thought I might be the right kind of chap to accompany the Princess to the races," Lord Porchester once told royal biographer Gyles Brandreth, per The Telegraph. "I'm glad he did. We hit it off at once."
They reportedly met at thoroughbred horse trainer Fred Darling's Beckhampton stables, according to The Guardian. He later became her "dancing partner"; he was even with her when she and younger sister Princess Margaret snuck out to join a V-E Day celebration outside Buckingham Palace (per The Telegraph).
"We were mixed up in the crowd," he told English author Sarah Bradford. "No one recognized Princess Elizabeth or Princess Margaret, and we went round up Whitehall, up Piccadilly, into the Ritz Hotel—I used to have a little room there—and back through Hyde Park Corner, down the Mall."
Although, Porchey and the queen's bond extended beyond a shared interest in horses. "It was a very equal friendship ranging over many interests," his son, George Herbert, also told The Telegraph. "They were from the same generation. They had been through the war. They shared a great love of the countryside and wildlife as well as horses. Whether they were walking at Sandringham, Highclere or in Scotland, it was always a great obsession."
He added that his father and the queen would often have "lively discussions" about horse breeding and racing, which became a "key part of their week."
He became her horse racing manager in 1969.
Porchey spent his lifetime around horses, even serving under the Royal Horse Guards in North Africa during World War II, The Guardian reported. He first fell in love with horse racing after he and his father visited thoroughbred trainer Fred Darling's stables in 1942.
He held the role of the queen's racing manager from 1969 until his death. The Guardian wrote of his contributions in the position (see below).
"But it was as the Queen's racing manager that he maintained his highest racing profile. In the 1970s, the royal studs were continuing to breed quality horses, and notable racecourse successes included Highclere's in the 1974 French Oaks on the eve of Royal Ascot, and Dunfermline's wins in the Oaks and the St Leger in Jubilee Year (1977). But the lack of access to Irish stallions, for political reasons, and the policy of using American stallions only in exceptional circumstances led to a weakening of the royal bloodlines."
He wasn't actually romantic with the queen.
A lady-in-waiting told The Telegraph's Graham Turner that the queen found her potential partners—including Porchey, Hugh Euston, and Lord Plunket—"sexually attractive," but nothing really ever happened romantically.
The Telegraph pointed out that "there is no evidence that [the queen and Lord Porchester] ever came close to marrying." However, there were rampant rumors that Porchey was the biological father of Prince Andrew (the queen and Prince Philip's third child), who was, according to the gossip, conceived while the Duke of Edinburgh was at sea for duty. The alleged speculation instigator, journalist Nigel Dempster, later conceded the rumor, but it nonetheless hurt Porchey's reputation.
The queen's former press secretary, Dickie Arbiter, condemned The Crown's implication that the queen had an affair with her longtime friend. "This is very distasteful and totally unfounded," he told The Sunday Times.
He married an American.
In 1956, Porchey tied the knot to U.S.-born Jean "Jeanie" Wallop, the cousin of the Earl of Portsmouth, according to The Telegraph. They said "I do" at St. James Protestant Episcopal Church in New York, followed by a small reception at the Georgian Suite in the Upper East Side, according to The New York Times' report on their wedding.
Despite Wallop's American home base, she comes from "one of the few families of British origin that can trace its ancestry with an unbroken line to the Anglo–Saxon era and the times of Alfred the Great," per the Times.
Henry and Jean had a daughter and two sons together.
He passed away in 2001.
Lord Porchester died from a heart attack in September 2001 at the age of 77. His wife, Jeanie, passed away this year. Although the queen rarely attends funerals for people outside of the family, she attended both the count's and countess's funerals.
The Crown Season 3 is now streaming on Netflix.
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