Row over lust in the dust
Descendant of Tutankhamun explorer says TV love affair’s a fake
THE discovery of the boy pharaoh Tutankhamun’s dazzling treasures in Egypt by archaeologist Howard Carter and his patron the Earl of Carnarvon captured the world’s imagination in 1922.
Now the amazing story is set to enthral the public again in a lavish four-part ITV drama – but the addition of an entirely fictitious affair between Carter and Carnarvon’s teenage daughter has brought a furious response from the earl’s great-grandson.
In the drama, Carter – played by heart-throb Max Irons, 30 – is shown passionately kissing Lady Evelyn Herbert, who was with her father, played by Sam Neill, in Egypt.
Lady Evelyn, played by Amy Wren, 26, tells Carter: ‘There must be some magic in the sand to allow these impossible things to happen.’
The romantic storyline has disappointed historians and the current Lord Carnarvon. ‘There was no romance between Carter and Evelyn. It just didn’t happen that way,’ he told The Mail on Sunday. And Lady Carnarvon added that far from there being romance, relations were strained: ‘He was very intellectual and she was a young girl. She was 18 and having fun.’
Francis Hopkinson, Tutankhamun’s producer, admitted the affair was ‘based on speculation’. The series will be screened later this autumn.