Viking and the PBS series MASTERPIECE have a relationship that goes beyond hosting the Emmy® Award-winning series Downton Abbey.  Recently, Viking extended its partnership with Highclere Castle as the sponsor of “Heroes at Highclere” a weekend to raise money for those who serve and those who save.  The Viking Highclere Castle event expands an enduring partnership that taps the past to change the future.

Our respective platforms, Highclere Castle and Viking, allow us to connect different cultures in ways that can ultimately help make the world a more understanding place.- Karine Hagen, Senior Vice President of Viking

Representatives from more than 20 countries will gather on the lawns for the event, honoring the centennial anniversary of the end of World War I and will highlight the history of flight, as well as the creation of the Royal Air Force (RAF), culminating in a memorial service on Sunday.

Adding to the partnership, Viking has also launched a series of online videos to complement the first-ever coffee table book about Highclere, At Home at Highclere, ($31.39/Amazon) written by the Countess of Carnarvon.

 

Heroes at Highclere

Going beyond simply marking the RAF and World War I centennial, Heroes at Highclere will welcome visitors involved in wars past and those continuing to serve today for a fundraising weekend. Throughout the weekend, guests will be entertained with displays in the sky and on the ground to commemorate heroes. Historic aircraft, including the Red Arrows Display Team, P51 Mustang, a Typhoon Display, the Spitfire, the Tiger 9 Formation Team and the Great War Display Team will take part in the event – and Europe’s only airworthy B17 will fly over the Castle on both days.

 

 

The Earl and Countess of Carnarvon will also dedicate a new memorial of an airman, carved from a 200-year-old cedar felled on the Highclere Estate. The event will also feature commemorative football games inspired by the only moment of peace during World War I, when armies from both sides famously played football on Christmas Day 1914. Musical entertainment will feature the popular Military Wives Choir, a Scottish Pipe Band and the 1920s band The Gatsby Girls. The Viking hospitality area is set on the famous lawns, where guests will enjoy a tea tent, a dance tent and a speakers’ tent with well-known literary names, including Robert Harris and former war correspondent Kate Adie, amongst others. For more information about the event, visit www.highclerecastle.co.uk.

 

 

Heroes at Highclere takes place at the Castle on September 8-9, 2018.
For more information about the event, visit www.highclerecastle.co.uk.

Cover photo: Haley Blackmore/Flickr