When the future Duchess of Alba met Egyptologist Howard Carter

100 years have passed since one of the great archeology milestones: the discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb by Howard Carter. On the occasion of the centenary, the Palacio de Liria will inaugurate a new temporary exhibition hall on December 1, with an exhibition entitled Alba and Carter: 100 years discovering Tutankhamun.

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And there is a bond that unites the Duchess of Alba with the Egyptian pharaoh: Jacobo Fitz-James Stuartfather of Cayetana, who was a great friend of the English Egyptologist. In a photograph shared by the website calypso in egyptthe future duchess, barely 7 years old, traveled with her father in 1933 to Giza to see the pyramids and the excavations of the British researcher.

According to the aforementioned media, Carter and the XVII Duke of Alba met in Cairo (1909), while the duke made a technical stop on the way to Spain, after returning from a safari in Kenya. Carter, for his part, excavated at Thebes. However, the harmony between the two was absolute.

They crossed paths again in 1920 and thanks to this nascent affection between the two, “it was possible for Carter to give a small cycle of conferences in Madrid (1924-1928), as a guest participant of the English-Hispanic Committee, when half of Europe was struggling to get a visit hers”.

In the capital, Howard also rubbed shoulders “with personalities of the stature of King Alfonso XIII, Ortega y Gasset or Mariano Benlliure”. “It has been the best week of my life, I repeat that I will never forget it,” said the Egyptologist after being entertained with a dinner at the Ritz Hotel.