Where was ‘Spencer’ filmed?
In contrast to the slowly unfolding decades of The Crown, Spencer tells the story of the modern royal family in capsule form. Focusing on just three days over Christmas 1993, it follows Diana Princess of Wales as she makes the momentous decision to end her marriage to Prince Charles and return to her maiden name.
Directed by Pablo Larraín, the Chilean auteur behind Natalie Portman-starring biopic Jackie, and with a script by Steven Knight, best known as the creator of Peaky Blinders, this is a heavyweight drama, not to be confused with the TV movies of yore. Its chief attraction is surely Kristen Stewart in the title role, going up against The Crown’s impressive Emma Corrin and next season’s Elizabeth Debicki, as well as Naomi Watts in 2013’s Diana. But the fact that the other star members of the cast, Sally Hawkins and Timothy Spall, have taken roles as Diana’s dresser and royal fixer Major Alistair Gregory, rather than other members of the royal family, is proof that the timescale is not the only thing that makes Spencer different from previous tellings.
LANDMARK MEDIA / Alamy Stock PhotoAs with all royal sagas, it’s not just the family that need to be imitated to our satisfaction: there are also the palaces. In this case, since the story takes place in deep midwinter, the building in question is Sandringham, one of Elizabeth II’s privately owned residences and her traditional Christmas venue. Situated in deepest Norfolk, a few miles from King’s Lynn, the house has a long history of rebuilding, changing shape from Elizabethan to Georgian times and almost completely transformed in the Victorian era, between 1870 and 1900.
The location is doubly significant for Spencer, since one of Sandringham’s adjoining residences, Park House, was the birthplace of Diana when rented to the Spencer family in the 1960s. The weight of this clearly hung heavy on the production, since Spencer uses not one but three different palaces to represent Sandringham on screen, heading to Germany to find sufficient grandeur, as well as visiting the real Norfolk countryside. Here’s our guide to the key players.