Sometimes the facts are even more extraordinary than the fiction. Lady Catherine and the Real Downton Abbey tells the story of the beautiful American heiress who lived at Highclere Castle, the setting for Julian Fellowes' television drama Downton Abbey. Glamorous and wealthy, Catherine became the toast of London society when she travelled across the Atlantic in 1920 to marry the Earl of Porchester, or 'Porchy', as he was known. At just 19 Catherine had to learn how to organise and host the lavish banquets and weekend house parties that Porchy so loved. She found herself suddenly in charge of the more than eighty staff working at Highclere Castle, and persuaded her husband to improve their living and working conditions. But things were far from perfect. The demands of running such a large household were greater than Lady Catherine had expected.