The wait is over for royal watchers: the final season of The Crown hits our screens on Thursday, November 16. It will be released on Netflix in two instalments: the first four episodes will be followed by six more on Thursday, December 14. Taking audiences from 1997 to the mid-Noughties, it will follow the premiership of Tony Blair, the death of Princess Diana, the romance of the young Prince William and Kate Middleton, and the wedding of Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles. But — aside from these storylines, brought to life by a stellar cast — it’s the locations that are expected to dazzle once again. Here are the season six highlights.
Main photo: The Crown season six was filmed in locations including York and Mallorca (Getty Images/Daniel Escale/Netflix/British Airways Holidays for La Residencia, A Belmond Hotel)
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Coast paths and turrets in Scotland
St Andrews plays itself as the university town where William and Kate first met: cafés, pubs, cinemas, coastal paths and university buildings became film sets. During filming, the town was so overtaken with Crown mania about the filming that the student paper, The Saint, diligently reported every detail, even providing supplementary illustrations. Although William and Kate lived at 13A Hope Street, The Crown — reported The Saint — was filmed at flat 9B. Northpoint Café, which is said to be the spot where Kate and Wills enjoyed their first coffee together, appears in the show as a pizzeria.
Another Scottish filming location was Ardverikie House, a magnificent Highland baronial hunting lodge that stands in for Balmoral. Ardverikie’s fairytale turrets aren’t new to the silver screen: it’s also featured in Monarch of the Glen and Mrs Brown. There are eight holiday cottages available to rent on the estate, including the Gatelodge on the banks of the River Pattack. Here turret views take in the magnificent wildlife of the estate: red deer, golden eagles and black-throated divers. Two nights’ self-catering for three at Ardverikie Gatelodge costs from £523.
ardverikie.com/holiday-cottages/gatelodge
Round Table and ancient traditions in Winchester
The new season covers the death of Princess Diana. For her funeral, Winchester Cathedral is understood to have stood in for Westminster Abbey — a worthy replacement, given Winchester’s historic royal links. When Alfred was crowned King of Wessex in the ninth century, Winchester became his capital. A millennium later, the residents paid tribute to him by installing a statue on the high street. And you can still see the Arthurian Round Table that hangs in the 13th-century Great Hall (£4; hants.gov.uk).
Today, the medieval cathedral is Winchester’s crowning glory (£12.50; winchester-cathedral.org.uk) — head to the north aisle to see the final resting place of Jane Austen. Another literary pilgrimage site is nearby on College Street, just past the wisteria-clad Priory Gate: the charming P&G Wells has been selling books here since 1729.
A lesser-known site, tucked away in the water meadows, is the Hospital of St Cross — “a Norman cathedral in miniature” according to historian Simon Jenkins — where you can take advantage of the ancient tradition of the “Wayfarer’s Dole”. Go to the Porter’s Gate for your chunk of bread and thimbleful of ale (£7.50; hospitalofstcross.co.uk). Stay just outside the city at Lainston House, a red-brick, gabled William and Mary building that’s one of the area’s finer hotels. B&B doubles from £255.
Romance and revolution in York
The grand finale of season six — the final hurrah of the entire series — is believed to be the wedding of Charles and Camilla. The crew couldn’t film in the real-life location, St George’s Chapel in Windsor, so York Minster was used instead. It’s a good setting for romance: the Great West Window of York Minster is known as “The Heart of Yorkshire”, as its tracery forms the shape of a heart (£16; yorkminster.org).
One of York’s most stylish hotels is the Judge’s Lodging, a Georgian townhouse that until 1976 was the residence of the visiting assizes court judges. There’s a cosier option, with dark wooden panelling and four-poster beds, in the shadow of York Minster — though avid fans of The Crown might find it an unsavoury choice. This is the Guy Fawkes Inn, named for the wannabe king-killer who was born here in 1570.
A word of warning for visitors aiming to stay in February: the film crews return, not for royal dramas, but to capture the spectacle of the largest Viking festival in Europe. Armies of bearded re-enactors fill the streets, shields in one hand, takeaway coffees in the other. B&B doubles at the Judge’s Lodging from £120.
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Paris, Chicago and a statue in London
Dartmouth House in Mayfair is, in real life, the home of the English-Speaking Union — but for the Crown it poses as the Ritz in Paris, where Diana and Dodi spent their final moments. Canary Wharf in London is also set to be a stand-in for 1990s Chicago — office workers in the area earlier this year were bemused to see a presidential motorcade whizzing through the streets, past Chicago cops and hot-dog stands.
Filming isn’t permitted at the official royal residences, but Lancaster House on The Mall, with its sweeping staircase and gilded ceilings, is a regular stand-in for Buckingham Palace — it was in The Young Victoria and The King’s Speech. At the top of The Mall, and in sight of Buckingham Palace, it has plenty of real-life royal links: Sir Winston Churchill hosted a coronation banquet for Queen Elizabeth II here in 1953.
Wrotham Park, in Barnet, north London, was used to film the Queen’s audiences with her prime ministers, and the Old Royal Naval College in Greenwich was used for exteriors. If you’re visiting Buckingham Palace itself, stay at the super-luxurious Goring Hotel. It’s nearby and royally approved: this was where the current Princess of Wales stayed the night before her wedding. Room-only doubles from £420.
Other real-life royal spots in the capital include Kensington Palace, where visitors can see the reimagined childhood rooms of Queen Victoria, or the lavish state rooms of Queen Mary II (£20; hrp.org.uk). This is the palace that Charles and Diana lived in after their wedding in 1981, and where William and Harry grew up. A memorial statue to Diana was unveiled in the gardens on July 1, 2021, on what would have been her 60th birthday. The place to stay is the white stucco Kensington Hotel, a 20-minute stroll from Kensington Palace and on the doorstep of the Natural History Museum, the Science Museum and the V&A. Room-only doubles from £222.
Private plunge pools and palaces in Mallorca
Retracing Diana’s holidays with Dodi Fayed, the season six TV crew spent time in Mallorca, where there is only one place to stay if you’re a serious fan of The Crown: La Residencia, A Belmond Hotel. In Deia in the Tramuntana mountains, where the writer Robert Graves lived, it claims to be “a place of spiritual connection for writers, artists and musicians”. The rustic-luxe decor and private plunge pools would certainly help. After Sir Richard Branson bought the hotel in 1987, a nickname followed (“La Res”), as did the glitterati, including Princess Diana. The hotel closes for winter but it’s worth booking ahead for when it reopens on March 26. Three nights’ B&B at La Residencia, A Belmond Hotel, plus BA flights, costs from £1,270pp.
Meanwhile in Palma, Mallorca’s capital, you can get your royalty fix at the magnificent Royal Palace of La Almudaina — an official residence of the Spanish royal family. Moorish courtyards are surrounded by palm trees and state rooms are decked with tapestries (£6/£4, patrimonionacional.es). Palma evenings are best enjoyed wandering the streets of the old town, with its quirky galleries, family-run tapas bars and antiquarian bookshops. The San Juan food market, in a former abattoir, offers a surprising mix of dishes, with the squid-ink tortilla being a local favourite.
