Laughter is important when coping with life's challenges'

This week's columnist: The Countess of Carnarvon

- 

I’ve always had a love of history and reading, but when I married Geordie in 1999, I had no idea I was to become an author. When his father, the 7th Earl, died in 2001, it was suddenly down to us to take Highclere Castle, the ancestral home, forward. I started by rewriting the guidebook. After the TV series made us unexpectedly worldfamous, I published books on entertaining at ‘the real Downton Abbey’, as well as histories of some interesting women who lived here – including Lady Almina, wife of the 5th Earl, known for the discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb.

With the centenary this year, writing his biography was the obvious next step. But it was a huge endeavour. Feeling the pressure of deadlines, I’d joke, ‘It’s taken 100 years to write this, how can I possibly be running late?’