ALTHORP HOUSE: A ROYAL RESIDENCE
In this episode, experts - including the private butler and confidante to princess Diana, Paul Burrell - reveal the secrets behind one of the grandest and most controversial stately homes in Britain, Althorp House.
The ancestral home of the aristocratic Spencer family, Althorp was plunged into the world’s media spotlight by the sudden, shocking death of Diana, Princess of Wales. Her brother, the Earl Spencer, was determined that Diana should be buried as a Spencer and not in a royal cemetery. After a flurry of often acrimonious behind the scenes negotiations, he got his way and on 6th September, 1997 Diana’s coffin was ‘brought home’ to Althorp.
Historians, royal watchers and friends of the Princess unpack the history of this grand home and the close links between the Spencers and generations of royalty.
HATFIELD HOUSE: A ROYAL RESIDENCE
Hatfield House - one of Britain’s finest stately houses and the childhood home of the most important queen in British history. For centuries royals have made a pilgrimage to Hatfield to visit the oak tree where a young princess discovered she was now Queen Elizabeth 1st, an event that would herald the start of the British Empire. Hatfield’s history is steeped in royal intrigue, indulgence and, thanks to the late Duke of Edinburgh, the launch of the Elizabethan Jet Age,
Now, with privileged access and insightful input from experts including Laurence Llewelyn Bowen and former royal butler Paul Burrell, we reveal the behind-the-scenes secrets of a house that’s been a regular royal go-to for centuries.
Over the years, Hatfield has played host to at least three Elizabeth the Seconds, three Duke of Edinburgh, Queen Anne… and Wonder Woman. With a spectacular array of lavish rooms, Hatfield House has become the must have film location for productions like Bridgerton, Lara Croft and Catherine the Great- a house so palatial it’s doubled as Buckingham Palace in The Crown, except with better furnishings.
GLAMIS CASTLE: A ROYAL RESIDENCE
Glamis Castle - the Scottish childhood home of the Queen Mother and beloved playground for her daughter, the future Queen- is one of the oldest royal residences in Britain. Steeped in history, tradition and myth, this pink painted fairytale fortress has been the family home to one of Britain’s oldest aristocratic families, including Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon who, as the Queen Mother, would become the dominant matriarch of the modern royal family.
Now experts, including former royal butler Paul Burrell and renaissance man Laurence Llewelyn Bowen, reveal the secrets of a house that helped shape the world views and personal convictions of the Queen Mother and the Queen.