What Castles and Estate Homes Are Used in The Crown Season 4?

Are you getting excited by the magnificent buildings in the background in the popular Netflix series “The Crown” season 4?

You are probably wondering what castles and palaces Netflix used?

The table below shows you exactly which buildings replicated the original ones in the Netflix Saga.

Castle or Manor House in “The Crown” Season 4	The original Castles or Manor Houses used
Windsor Castle	Belvoir Castle, Burghley House
Balmoral Castle	Ardverikie House,  Knebworth House
Highgrove Estate	Somerley House
Buckingham Palace	Lancaster House, Wrotham Park, Moor Park, Wilton House.
Gatcombe Park	Wrotham Park
Sandringham House	Somerleyton Hall
Kensington Palace	Harefield Grove, Brocket Hall
Clarence House	High Canons Borehamwood  House in Hertfordshire

In case you want to visit these stunning locations in non-pandemic times, below you find a quick travel guide to the royal houses.

Belvoir Castle; Stands for Windsor Castle in The Crown Season 4.

Netflix’s filming crew used the Belvoir Castle to recreate Windsor’s lavish rooms in Season 4.

Both Castles are open to the public with unique architecture and history behind.

Windsor Castle 

During his campaign in England in the 11th century, William the Conqueror built the castle to protect their presence in London’s outskirts.

Since its foundation, the court has been a home and refuge for 39 monarchs and one of England’s most popular castles.

Today Windsor is the Queen’s favourite weekend residence and holds the oldest and largest occupied castle’s title worldwide.

Unless there is a lockdown in the UK, Windsor Castle is open to the public with plenty of tours available to discover throughout.

Address: Windsor SL4 1LJ

Belvoir Castle

Used in The Crown, and many other famous movies like Golden Bowl, Da Vinci Code, Victoria & Abdul, Belvoir castle is a hidden gem of Leicestershire.

Robert de Todeni, a Norman nobleman, might have built the castle just after the Norman conquest in 1066, Belvoir’s following owners rebuilt the court at least three times.

Today the Manners Family owns a corner of the castle and the rest of it is open to the public and filmmakers which are usual guests here.

Well maintained luxurious staterooms allowed the production of the show to recreate Windsor Castles’ interiors easily.

Don’t miss Belvoir if you are near Leicestershire or Nottingham, a fantastic family-friendly attraction with well-organised tours and friendly staff which will give you a unique royal experience.

Address: Grantham NG32 1PE

Ardverikie, Hertfordshire and Hedsor House acts as Balmoral Castle.

Three other luxurious homes featured Balmoral Castle in season 4. The Ardverikie House in Scottish Highlands used for exterior filming and Hertfordshire and Hedsor House in Buckinghamshire for the interior.

Balmoral castle is where the royal family loves to spend time in the summer and the series’s critical location. Margaret’s Teacher spends an unwanted weekend and Diana passes the Queen and her family’s test.

Balmoral has been a private residence of the British royal family since 1852 when they rebuilt a new castle taking the old one down.

If you love history and Scottish weather, then a trip to Balmoral is the right choice.

Nothing compares with a road trip through the Scottish Highlands, all those views and the castles itself suddenly appear from nowhere.

Unfortunately, you can only visit one room inside as it’s still a royal private property, although well worth visiting.

Address: Balmoral Estates, Ballater AB35 5TB

Please contact the property as they often change opening days and times.

Highgrove Estate replicated by the Somerley House in season 4.

Somerley House has an honour standing in for Highgrove country house, Prince Charles and Diana’s residence currently the home of Charles and Camila.

Highgrove

Built in the late 18th century, Highgrove went through ownership of many noble families until 1980 when Duchy of Cornwall bought the building from Maurice Macmillan.

Featured in many books and TV shows, Highgrove gardens receive around 30 000 visitors annually.

You can experience Highgrove through champagne and tea and gardens tours available on their website.

Somerley House

Somerley is a large country house near Ringwood, the seventh Earl of Normanton’s home.

Samuel Wyatt Designed the building in 1792-1795, and then the Normanton family bought the house in 1825 which is still their family home nowadays.

The site is not open to the public except the weddings, tv programs and special events.

Buckingham Palace feel like Princess Diana in “The Crown.”

To form the authentic look of Buckingham Palace, one of the most popular royal buildings in the world, the filming crew used a good number of other facilities.

Buckingham Palace’s interior filming took place at Lancaster House in St James’s, Wilton House in Wiltshire, Wrotham Park in Barnet, Moor Park in Rickmansworth, Goldsmith’s Hall in the City of London and Old Royal Naval College in Greenwich.

Buckingham Palace

This building needs no introduction, judging by how often appears on TV and getting tagged 1.2 million times on Instagram.

Many of the interior filming and the staircases occurred at Lancaster House and the scene where Diana (Emma Corrin) roller-skating through the palace movie crew captured at Golfsmith Hall in London.

Originally Buckingham Palace was a private townhouse for about 150 years.

The palace became the royal residence for the British Monarch on the accession of Queen Victoria in 1837.

Visiting Buckingham Palace, which is also one of the most expensive palaces in the world, is possible in the summer times if there are no lockdown restrictions. 

Because of the short time frame, the tours are in high demand, so if you are willing to see the palace’s lavish staterooms and galleries, you will need to book well in advance.

Lancaster House

Also known as York House and then Stafford house Lancaster House is a Neoclassical mansion in the St James district, London.

You can only visit the interior in the annual Open House London Festival, a weekend-long event, in rest you can virtually see the house without leaving your home.

Wilton House in Wiltshire

Another magnificent building that helped to replicate Buckingham palace is Earls of Pembroke’s home for almost 400 years.

 Luckily Wilton House is open to the public where you can explore the stunning architecture and history that brought filming to its doors.

Moor Park and Royal Naval College

When it comes to the exterior of Buckingham, you could see the closest similarity in the Moor Park House in Rickmansworth and Royal Naval College in Greenwich.

Netflix also used Elstree Studios to film some scenes at Buckingham Palace.

Kensington Palace, The Crown filming locations

Like Palaces above mentioned Kensington was not an exception from the demand for more than one building to reproduce it.

The filming of Kensington happened at Brocket Hall in Hertfordshire, Harefield Grove in Hillingdon, Wellington College in Berkshire.

Kensington Palace in season 4 acts as the home of Prince Charles and Princess Diana and Princess Margaret.

Today Kensington Palace it’s the Official Residence of The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.

It also contains the offices and residences of The Duke and Duchess of Gloucester, The Duke and Duchess of Kent and Prince and Princess Michael of Kent.

However, historic parts of the palace and gardens are open to the public through the guided tours worth a day out.

Gatcombe Park in The Crown Season four.

Wrotham park is the actual building we contemplate in season four and with most similarities to Gatcombe House standing for Anne’s country residence.

Located 17 miles from Hyde Park Corner you could also spot it in movies like Bridget Jones’ Diary, Gosford Park, Vanity Fair or Jane Eyre.

George Basevi designed the Gatcombe Park in the late 18th century and today is the Grade II listed building.

The site is not open to the public except part of the grounds hosting some events, including horse trails and craft fairs.

Where do they film Clarence House?

Clarence House in season four hosts Prince Charles and Diana and all ups and downs of their marriage.

Clarence House is where Diana conducts her affairs with James Hewitt and from where Prince Charles retreats to Highgrove to see Camila.

Netflix production used High Canons Borehamwood, a country Manor House in Hertfordshire to replicate Clarence House.

A previous residence of Queen Mother and Queen and Prince Philip, Clarence house today is the London residence of Prince Charles.

Clarence House is open to the public during August only, for more information checks out the tours guide.

Summary 

England treats the filming industry well with the number of Castles, Palaces and Manor houses it has at disposal.

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