5 Filming Locations From ‘The Crown’ Season 3 You Can Visit IRL
The third season of The Crown dropped on Netflix this weekend(!!). We’re already obsessed with Olivia Colman as Queen Elizabeth, hot Prince Charles and a whole heap of castles.
If Big Little Lies is real estate porn, then The Crown is castle porn. But not even Netflix’s seemingly-endless budget can get a production team inside Buckingham Palace, so the producers had to get creative about how (and where) to show the royals at work, rest and play.
[related_articles]74858,71232,78723[/related_articles]To celebrate season three landing on our screens, we rounded up a bunch of the castles, estates and cathedrals that lent their grand hallways, vast state rooms and decadent furnishings to the show. Best of all — you don’t even need an invitation from the Queen to visit them IRL!
Here are 5 filming locations from The Crown you can visit:
#1 Wilton House
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Wilton House appears in almost every episode of The Crown as a double for one of Buckingham Palace’s formal rooms. The lavish-as-hell Double Cube Room is a “trump card kept up our sleeves for the most special occasions at Buckingham Palace,” said Martin Childs, the show’s production designer.
In real life, it’s home to the Earl and Countess of Pembroke, but visitors can explore its gilded rooms, decked out with artworks by Rembrandt and van Dyck, and its lavish gardens for £15.50 (AUD$25) between April and September.
#2 Hylands House, England
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Hylands House was The Crown‘s stand-in for the White House in season three, when Princess Margaret met President Lyndon B. Johnson.
It opens its doors to the public one day a month (for free!). There aren’t any 2020 dates listed yet, but you can check this page for updates. You can also wander through Hylands Park — the massive estate that encompasses the house — every day of the year for free.
#3 Belvoir Castle
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Not even Netflix can buy its way inside the Queen’s private residences. But the show wouldn’t be complete without Windsor, so Belvoir Castle boldly stood in for the royal home.
It’s home to the Duke and Duchess of Rutland, who seem to be as ravid fans of the show as we are. “We are delighted to have some of the best costume makers and directors using Belvoir and some of our favourite rooms, such as the Elizabeth Saloon, used as replicas for Windsor Castle scenes,” said the Duchess.
You can visit on select days in November and December, and then again from March 2020 with tickets starting at £18 (AUD$34).
#4 Winchester Cathedral
Olivia Colman’s Queen Elizabeth attended Winston Churchill’s funeral in season 3. In reality, it was held in St Paul’s Cathedral in London, but it was much more practical to film these scenes inside the Gothic cathedral.
You can take a guided tour of Winchester Cathedral as well as its crypt and tower, or get tickets to one of the live music events, markets and exhibitions that are held here year-round. Just know that you’ll also be standing in the spot where royals have said “I do” for centuries, and the site where Jane Austen was buried.
#5 Caernarfon Castle
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Sometimes, The Crown is lucky enough to film in the exact spot where historic moments took place. In 1969, Prince Charles’ investiture ceremony took place on the grounds of Caernarfon Castle in Wales. In the show’s third season, the ceremony was recreated in the same place, when Josh O’Connor’s confusingly attractive Charles was sworn in as the new Prince of Wales.
The castle is open daily, with tickets starting at £9.90 (AUD$18).
(Lead image: The Crown / Netflix)
