How The Crown Recreated Buckingham Palace Without Setting Foot Inside

Even with its massive budget and meticulous attention to detail, Netflix's The Crown couldn't secure permission to film at the actual Buckingham Palace. Queen Elizabeth, we can only imagine, wouldn't have been thrilled with the idea of cameras and crew traipsing through her home. But if you've ever felt like you were truly inside the iconic 775-room palace while watching the series, you have production designer Martin Childs and lead researcher Annie Sulzberger to thank for that. Their work was nothing short of magical.

Here's the deal: The Crown's version of Buckingham Palace isn't just one location—it's a seamless blend of real-life estates and sets built on soundstages. For instance, Vanessa Kirby, who played Princess Margaret, once revealed to Harper's Bazaar that the crew turned the palace set at Elstree Studios into a disco to celebrate her last day on the role. Now that's a wrap party worth talking about!

(Photo Credit: Getty Images)

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Research and Reconnaissance: Touring Buckingham Palace

Creating an accurate depiction of Buckingham Palace involved a mix of on-site reconnaissance and deep historical research. Annie Sulzberger and Martin Childs took public tours of the palace, blending in with other visitors to gather as much information as possible. However, there were obvious limitations to what they could access. “One place you are never allowed to go, for obvious reasons, are the private apartments,” Martin revealed to Vulture. “But we managed to find rough layouts to work with.”

Given these constraints, the team decided to focus their efforts on recreating the private apartments. These were the only sets they built from scratch, while other rooms were sourced from real-life locations. Some of the standouts include Lancaster House in London, Wilton House near Salisbury, and Wrotham Park in Hertfordshire. Interestingly, Wrotham Park also served as Mr. Darcy’s estate in Bridget Jones’s Diary—talk about versatility!

“We knew we couldn’t replicate every room, nor did we have the budget to compete with the grandeur of a real palace,” Martin explained. “So we concentrated on the private apartments, where we could add elements of postwar austerity and even a bit of neglect. You can’t exactly go around damaging a historic home, but on our set, we had the freedom to add touches like damp patches and hammer marks.”