The photograph surprised researchers from the Historical Archive of the Nobility who were reviewing the legacy of the Marquises of Mendigorría and Torrelaguna in 2022. Was it Howard Carter who appeared among those images of a trip to Egypt of this noble family? There was barely a month left until the centenary of the discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb and that singular discovery did not seem like a coincidence. “Sometimes it seems that the documents in Nobleza have a life of their own because they appear and are made known at specific moments, as if to vindicate themselves,” jokes Arancha Lafuente, director of this state-owned institution based at the Tavera Hospital in Toledo. There is no doubt that the photographs had been taken during the British Egyptologist’s famous excavations in the Valley of the Kings. His unmistakable figure accompanied the transfer of a bust of the child pharaoh and in two other images we could see the entrance to the tomb and two Egyptian workers who were carrying, on a stretcher and held with some cloth, a wooden chest that is today preserved in the Cairo Museum. Along with these photographs were others of María González de Quintanilla and her daughter Julia in Egypt. The wife of Luis Esteban y Fernández del Pozo, Marquis of Torrelaguna since 1952, was photographed on a dromedary in Giza, in front of the Sphinx and the pyramids. He also posed with the young Julia in front of ancient Theban temples or aboard a felucca on the Nile. There was also other documentation of that 1923 trip, such as a signed menu from a social dinner at the Semiramis Hotel in Cairo or some cartouches with his name in hieroglyphic writing and its detailed explanation by letter. Standard Related News No Howard Carter confessed to ABC that he wanted to excavate “two more tombs of pharaohs” Mónica Arrizabalaga It is 150 years since the birth of the famous discoverer of Tutankhamun’s tomb. “My grandmother, who was a beautiful lady, very intelligent and very cultured, loved to travel and was lucky enough to meet many interesting people,” recalls Rafael Fernández de Córdoba, the current Marquis of Torrelaguna and Mendigorría. Mexican with Hispanic roots and Spanish by marriage, María González de Quintanilla lived much of her life in Paris. According to her descendant, she was a friend and lady-in-waiting of the Infanta Eulalia de Borbón, as revealed by their numerous common correspondence preserved in the Nobility Archive, and in the French capital she organized a multitude of social and literary salons. “He knew D’Annunzio a lot, to whom he had books dedicated, and by his house, on the rue du Général Langlois, in the 16th arrondissement, Rubén Darío or Eduardo Dato, for example, passed by,” says his grandson, who highlights his sense of humor and his friendliness. Excavations in Tutankhamun’s tomb Photographs of the legacy of Mendigorría and Torrelaguna taken at the Valley of the Kings site in 1923 Archive of the Nobility/Ministry of Culture The discovery of the photographs from Egypt was no surprise to the marquis. His grandmother spent several winters in Cairo and became friends with Sultana Melek and other members of Egyptian royalty and high society, who frequently traveled to Paris. Furthermore, as a child, Rafael Fernández de Córdoba heard many times from their lips that 1923 visit to Tutankhamun’s tomb, just three months after the discovery. «My grandmother met Lord Carnarvon in England, at the home of Lord and Lady Blackett, before the First World War and I think Carter later in Cairo. “He had tea with them once, when Lord Carnarvon was about to leave before the discovery, and he said that he saw that poor Carter was left without a grave,” he says. Fernández de Córdoba suspects that it was at a high society reception at Madame Cattaui’s house where her grandmother was invited to see the tomb of the child pharaoh that everyone was talking about. Its discovery on November 4, 1922, announced on the eve of Christmas of that same year, sparked great interest. “The tomb seemed like a magnet,” Carter wrote in his diary. Visitors arrived by donkey, cart and horse-drawn carriage and stood on a wall waiting for some object to emerge from the underground passage. The Egyptologist confessed in his notes that sometimes they feared that the wall would give way and a crowd of visitors would rush into the tomb. Behind the sealed door In mid-February, with work completed in the antechamber where Carter saw “wonderful things,” it was time to reveal the mystery hidden behind the sealed door. Friday the 17th was the day designated for the official opening. Following the archaeologists, Lord Carnarvon, his daughter Lady Evelyn and around twenty guests entered Tutankhamun’s burial chamber for the first time and the small room that contained the greatest treasures. «It was curious to see their faces when one by one they came out the door. Each face had a stunned look of astonishment in their eyes and all of them raised their hands as they left, an unconscious gesture that reflected their impotence to describe in words the wonders they had seen,” Carter described. Also ‘Madame de Esteban’, as González de Quintanilla was known before becoming marchioness, she was fascinated when she entered the chamber a few days later. “She said she was speechless,” recalls her grandson. Although, according to the marquis, “there were people who advised her: ‘Don’t go down, María’,” she “didn’t care.” “Aslan Cattaui entered with her and Carter accompanied them to the door,” he says. Her mother, who at that time was a teenager, preferred to wait outside, perhaps afraid of that famous curse that was already spreading from mouth to mouth. In Fernández de Córdoba’s opinion, her grandmother must have been one of the first women to enter the grave, after Lady Evelyn and the Queen of Belgium. Isabel Gabriela of Bavaria, who was passionate about Egyptology, visited the place the day after the official opening of the burial chamber, together with her son, the future Leopold III. Lord and Lady Allenby were also present, “along with a number of other distinguished visitors,” Carter wrote. A week later, the archaeologists closed the tomb and reburied it until the next excavation campaign, so in those previous days the Spanish couple must have known the place, judging by the testimony of their descendant and the photographs found in the Nobility Archive. Egyptologist Alba Mª Villar has verified that the images are authentic. He has located very similar photographs at the Griffith Institute in London, taken at the same time, although from different camera shots. “Ours have different angles,” Villar points out, referring, for example, to the one captured during the transfer of the bust of the pharaoh under Carter’s watchful eye. In his opinion, there is no doubt that María González de Quintanilla “was there in those days, for sure.” With the Cattaui “There are three photos of Tutankhamun’s tomb and several of their trip, in which they were accompanied by the Cattaui family, one of the most influential in the contemporary history of Egypt,” he explains. A son of Joseph Aslan Cattaui, who was an Egyptian pasha and minister, poses with them in a felucca on the Nile. The documentation also includes a letter in French from Adolphe Cattaui, who was secretary general of the Royal Geographical Society of Egypt. In his writing, the Egyptologist attaches a representation and explanations of how the names of María, Lia (Julia) and Esteban would be written with hieroglyphs. “There was an absolute ‘Tutmania’, European and American high society was fascinated,” comments the researcher. . The trains to Luxor were full and the hotels of ancient Thebes were filled with visitors dazzled by the magnificent pieces that archaeologists removed from the tomb. Among the personalities who attended the fashionable excavations of the moment was this lady of the Spanish nobility. From the time he spent in Egypt, he kept as a souvenir in Paris for the rest of his life “a scarab and some figurines (ushebtis?) that they gave him,” according to his grandson. Memories of the trip Madame Esteban and her daughter on a felucca in the Nile and in front of a Theban temple and detail of the letter sent by Adolphe Cattaui with their names in hieroglyphic writing and their explanations Historical Archive of the Nobility/Ministry of CultureAlba Villar made known the photographs and documents of María González de Quintanilla at an international congress of Egyptology held at the University of La Laguna (Tenerife) and at a conference at the Archivo de la Nobleza on November 4, on the anniversary of the famous discovery. The Egyptologist believes that these materials are “a surprise”, that there could be more photographs and writings since there is still documentation to review in the voluminous legacy that is preserved in the Tavera Hospital. “Imagine if there are letters from Lord Carnarvon,” he comments with undisguised enthusiasm. Rafael Fernández de Córdoba does not rule it out. And not only does he believe it is possible in the Nobility Archive. The delivery to Toledo of a part of the family archive that it preserves is still pending. “You would have to look because she had a lot of notes, letters, memories…,” he says. The marquis relates with longing some of the funny anecdotes that his grandmother told, whom he describes as a very restless and curious person, who spoke fluently. in French, English and German, as well as in Spanish. ‘The pearl of Mexico’, as María González de Quintanilla was called for her beauty, “had a fascinating life.” He saw much of the world, interacted with important personalities of his time and, coincidences or not, witnessed the most famous archaeological discovery of the 20th century.
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