Table blunders for Downton Abbey
AS Downton Abbey fans eagerly await its return later this month, it appears all is not right in the household – namely, the table settings.
The Countess of Carnarvon who lives at Highclere Castle – Downton’s on-screen setting – has revealed blunders that would make any butler blush. They include incorrect table settings and too few servants.
She said: “Glasses are back to front and things are set wrong. It’s the little details.”
She added: “Setting the table is an art...Downton prefer a different arrangement.”
In the early 1900s, when Downton Abbey is set, there would have been up to 60 servants. Downton has about a dozen. Lady Carnarvon, who lives there with her husband, the eighth Earl, has begun a blog to reveal the secrets of running a stately home.
Highclere Castle, in Berkshire, was chosen for the ITV drama after creator Julian Fellowes was a guest there.