The State Dining Room

The dining room was transformed by Sir Charles Barry into the "Stuart Revival" style of interior design.

The room was recently redecorated by Jeannie, 7th Countess of Carnarvon, bringing warm yellow silks to a north facing room, highlighting its grandeur and opulence.

The Portraits

The room is dominated by Van Dyck's great equestrian portrait of Charles I. Also on display in the room are portraits of some Herbert ancestors who, from the evidence of the visitors books, would have witnessed the glittering dinner parties held by the family from the 1860s onwards.

Dining Room Furniture

Much of the furniture was built specifically for the room. The centrepiece is the dining table of c. 1870, which contains a mechanism to include twelve extending leaves. Earlier pieces include the sideboards flanking the fireplace, which were made by George Bullock in about 1815 using marble from his own quarry at Mona in Anglesey. 18th century pieces include the long case clock by Shelton, serving table and mahogany side chairs.

The ornately carved chimney piece has barley twist columns made from two logs of coromandel wood, presented to the 2nd Earl in 1822 by Mr Saram of Colombo, Ceylon who had known Lord Carnarvon as a student and had visited Highclere. The 4th Earl later noted he had apparently offered an elephant but was persuaded against it!

The Music Room

After the masculine opulence of the Library, comes the contrasting femininity of the Music Room. It is a wonderful south-facing room with views towards two follies: Jackdaw's Castle to the east and Heaven's Gate at the summit of Siddown Hill which, at 910 feet, is one one the highest points in Hampshire.

The baroque ceiling was painted in 1776 for the Drawing Room of the original Georgian house. It depicts Athene Rising and was painted by Francis Hayman (1708-1776). Athene was the Goddess of Wisdom and the Arts. The ceiling was cut down and reassembled in the current Castle in 1878.

The walls are hung with Italian embroideries which were acquired from the Malatesta Palace in Rimini, and are estimated to date from the 16th century.

The Drawing Room

This lovely south-facing room was very much the work of Almina, 5th Countess of Carnarvon, in the late 1890s. She was the illegitimate daughter of Alfred de Rothschild and Marie Wombwell. It is, therefore, no coincidence that this room bears a strong resemblance to some of the interiors at Halton, Alfred de Rothschild's Buckinghamshire house.

French Silk wall coverings

Alfred de Rothschild gave his daughter Almina a bolt of green French silk from which to cover the walls and to make curtains. This all had to be replaced in 1999, although it was matched as closely as possible to the original. The style is called "rococo revival" and reflects a late Victorian fascination with the Ancien Regime in France

The room is filled with family portraits, several of them by Beechey, as well as important 17th and 18th century works by Kneller, Richardson and Reynolds. The two mid-18th century pastels, in elaborate shell frames, are of Sir Robert Kingsmill and his wife, who owned the estate and lived in a house on this site between 1572 and circa 1600.

Drawing Room Furniture

The furniture is a mix of pieces from 1730-1900. The earliest pieces are the Italian bow-fronted walnut commodes and the English rams head centre table of about 1730.

The black lacquer cabinets are Chinese and dated circa 1800 with later English stands. Lacquer furniture in the Chinese style was very fashionable in the late Victorian period. The ebony cabinet is 18th century French with earlier painted panels showing personifications of two elements, earth and water, and the four continents, Europe, America, Africa and Asia.

The 18th century giltwood needlework chairs are English in the French style and so is the large brass and tortoiseshell in-laid cabinet, made from the style of Boulle, but dating from the 1870s.

The narrow cupboards which hid the 5th Earl of Carnarvon's collection of Egyptian antiquities are in the thickness of the wall between the double doors from the Drawing Room to the Smoking Room.