Blog - News

December 1, 2023

By Joely Ellis

Part 2 of the final season of the spectacular series, The Crown, is coming to Netflix on the 14^th December.

The first few episodes of the historical series, released in November, is mainly focused on life before and after the tragic death of Princess Diana (Elizabeth Debicki) in 1997.

This well-needed break between this season says goodbye to Diana, with the next six episodes moving forward, looking to focus on the happier times for the royal family ending the series on a high.

Part 2 will feature the wedding of Prince Charles (Dominic West) and Camilla Parker Bowles (Olivia Williams), as well as Prince William (Ed McVey) and Kate Middleton’s (Meg Bellamy) first meeting at university.

This season is covering quite a lot of ground, set in the 1990’s and early 2000’s, which means the cast and crew have been filming all over the UK, and at times across the globe. Over the course of this series, The Crown has shot in every region in England!

The production team pay extremely close detail to every single part of the production from the costumes, to set design, depending on what era they’re in, all the way to recreating the quintessential locations as accurately as possible.  As we expect nothing less from The Crown, this season takes us to some breathtaking locations, some real-life locations and others that are doubled for somewhere else.

As we admire the stately rooms, the gorgeous scenery and the famous landmarks, such as Buckingham Palace, we’re looking into some of the iconic locations The Crown have used across England for the final part of this esteemed series.

Hertfordshire has been the home to The Crown since the very beginning. Member of the Filming in England Partnership, Elstree Film Studios, has been The Crown’s official base since the first season back in 2015.  The Crown’s production offices were at Elstree Studios including the production team, costume designers, set designers, the art department and so on were based there. Throughout the series they had leased 3 of their stages plus the backlot which has bought numerous locations to life.

The Studios were used to build the living quarters of Buckingham Palace, the interior of 10 Downing Street, the inside of residential homes and private plane interiors. The backlot is where part of the exterior of Buckingham Palace and 10 Downing Street were built plus numerous other recognisable sets such as the replica of the school in the Welsh village of Aberfan that was tragically destroyed in 1966 and featured in season 3, the façade of the Paris Ritz in this most recent season and much more.

Rebecca Hawkes, Acting Head of Elstree Studios says, “Over the past eight years, Elstree Studios has been the home of ‘The Crown’. Six successful seasons later, their tenure on site is coming to an end. The series has not just captured history but has become a testament to the craftsmanship and dedication within our industry. We stand incredibly proud to have witnessed each set, each scene, and each nuanced performance unfold behind the gates here at Elstree Studios.”

Not only did The Crown shoot at Elstree Studios in Hertfordshire, but they also shot in numerous locations across the County.

As mentioned, part of Buckingham Palace was based at Elstree Studios but the locations team also used other locations to double for the famous Royal home bringing the whole Palace to life. In this season the grand 18th century house, Wrotham Park, in Hertfordshire is used.

Another 18^th century home, Brocket Hall, also in Hertfordshire, was used taking on its role as Kensington Palace, with its distinctive red bricks, it has an extremely strong resemblance. Brocket Hall has featured in previous seasons of The Crown, having been used to represent the home of Prince Charles, Princess Diana and Princess Margaret.

Pippa Cawdron, Hertfordshire Film Officer, says – “The inception of the Hertfordshire Film Office underscores our dedication to strengthening film productions by providing accessible locations, skilled talent, and local facilities. We take pride in serving as the host for all six seasons of The Crown in Hertfordshire, both in studio and on location, contributing significantly to the area’s economic impact.”

As well as Hertfordshire, they also shot at various locations across the whole of England. One location being Lamport Hall in Northamptonshire.

“From the outset of Filming in England’s introduction to Location Manager, Michelle, we had a wonderfully open dialogue and very smooth handover to Supervising Location Manager, Helene, who became our key contact for the duration of prep and filming.

We are lucky to have a beautiful grade 1 listed country house with one of the most original and intact stable yards in the country, beautiful and unique gardens and traditional parkland.  The layout of our house and stables lends itself so well to being adaptable for alternative uses and, in this case, specific locations relevant to filming.  We also have a very adaptable team, which is able to respond quickly and positively to itinerary changes and adjustments to scenes or logistical arrangements.  

Our wider estate offers locations such as open water, derelict buildings, farm and office buildings, traditional farm and stable settings, woodlands (including bluebell and wildflower), pubs, traditional housing and open-field locations.  We also have tenanted properties which include workshops, “blue-light” search and rescue organisations, food processing, manufacturing and a range of leisure and commercial operations, all of which lend to our diverse fabric of activity.  We have a collaborative relationship with our tenants and we are pleased that many are willing to be part of filming opportunities.

I was so content with our experience with Netflix that I was happy to facilitate the widening of gateways to make access for Netflix Pantechnicons more straightforward, meaning that we can now easily accommodate very significant infrastructure which I hope makes us more attractive for filming opportunities in the future.

I am very grateful to you for your introduction to Netflix – the experience of my entire team was overwhelmingly positive and I hope to do much more in this area in the future.  Thank you so much Jonny and the Creative England’s Filming in England team,” Mark Herrod, Lamport Hall.

Kent was also used for various scenes for Series 6 of The Crown. They filmed across numerous locations across the County including, Discovery Park which doubled for the Fayed Offices, Cobham Hall which doubled for Eaton, Rochester Guildhall and Rochester City Centre.

Gabrielle Lindemann from the Kent Film Office said, “The Kent Film Office was proud to be a part of the final season of The Crown. Our team recommended locations for filming and a unit base, helped organise traffic management to facilitate filming, crowd holding and obtained permission from Kent Police for filming with prop police vehicles and police in uniform.”

Windsor Castle in Berkshire is very much still used as a royal residence so the locations team had to find a location to double so in this most recent season, you’ll find they shot at the stunning, historic mansion, Burghley House in Cambridgeshire.

Numerous locations in Berkshire were also used. Lilly Hudson from the Berkshire Film Office said, “The Berkshire Film Office had the pleasure of facilitating on-location filming in Berkshire back in October 2022 and organised Traffic Management for the day of filming.  The first part of the series features rural parts of Wokingham, Berkshire.”

Berkshire boarding school, Wellington College, has been used throughout the series to portray Kensington Palace, the royal residence where Diana continued to live throughout her separation from the then Prince Charles. It also acted as a backdrop to the infamous and controversial BBC Panorama interview.

Also in Berkshire, Ditton Park, was used which is managed by the Location Collective.

The Locations team at the Location Collective said, “Location Collective were once again delighted to work with The Crown on season 6. Ditton Park was the ideal location to double as their French airport. The striking glass exterior lends itself perfectly as a private terminal. Ditton Park also provided controllable roads, support space and ample parking for unit basing. It’s been a pleasure to work with the team, and we can’t wait to see the final locations come to life in part 2.”

The sad scenes of Princess Diana’s funeral were shot at Winchester Cathedral in Hampshire which doubled as the famous Westminster Abbey.

On a lighter note, York Minster was used as the location to double as St. George’s Chapel in Windsor for the then-Prince Charles and Camilla’s wedding where they had hundreds of extras outside in the crowd scene.

Somerleyton Hall in Suffolk was previously used to depict Sandringham Estate, but in season 6 it was used as the filming location for Highgrove House. In real life, Highgrove House is the residence of King Charles III and Queen Camilla and is known for its stunning gardens, and Somerleyton Hall is the perfect match.

“The Filming in England team were on hand to help support all 6 seasons of The Crown. The team helped source locations and worked with local authorities and film offices to ensure The Crown’s location shoots always ran smoothly. We feel very lucky to be a part of this remarkable, unforgettable series and we can’t wait to see part 2 on our screens,” Production Liaison Manager at Filming in England, Joely Ellis.