In the 80s, Prince Charles set up home in the Gloucestershire
estate of Highgrove. Tours of its manicured gardens run from
April
to October
each year – especially good when polished off with a champagne
afternoon tea in the Orchard Tea Room. Filming for these scenes
actually took place in the 18th-century, Grade II-listed Somerley
House on the bucolic cusp of Hampshire’s New Forest and Dorset.
This particular pile isn’t open to the public, so if you want to
get under the skin of the new season, you’ll have to hire it out
for a private event.

Stay: The Pig

Expect to get well acquainted with Charles and Diana in season
four, in which many scenes are set in their Kensington Palace pad, where the Duke and Duchess of
Cambridge live today, tucked in the grassy folds of Hyde Park.
Filming actually took place across two separate locations, one
being the 19th-century, Grade II-listed Harefield Grove, a historic
house currently being converted into residential properties. It’s
on the eastern fringe of the Colne Valley
Regional Park so we suggest driving by before getting a fix of
nature.

Stay: This oak cabin in Berkhamsted

The other dupe for Kensington Palace? Brocket Hall, which has
also appeared in The Queen and the mid-90s version of Pride and
Prejudice. Built in 1760, this oh-so stately country pile has been
called home by not one but two PMs – Lord Melbourne and Lord
Palmerston. Put your pinkies up for afternoon tea and tour the
house (the chinoiserie-style Prince Regent suite is our favourite)
before checking into Melbourne Lodge on site. Under normal
circumstances, its calendar includes jazz performances and dining
experiences.

Stay: Melbourne Lodge

The red-bricked Northern Quarter in Manchester
makes a convincing stand-in for New York in season four, when a
young Diana takes a solo trip to the Big Apple’s Henry Street
Settlement, a shelter for homeless families, and the Harlem
Hospital in 1989. Gaze past the yellow taxis, 80s outfits and
stuck-on subway signage and you may well recognise Stevenson
Square. It doubled up both as the Bronx and Manhattan’s 23rd Street
Station.

Stay: King Street Townhouse

In previous seasons, Sandringham was shot at Englefield
House in Berkshire, where gardens are open to the public. For
the latest installation, the filming location for the royal’s
Norfolk crash pad upped sticks in favour of the Grade II-listed
Somerleyton Hall in “the wilds of East Anglia” (so says its
website). Pootle around its 12-acre gardens before knocking back
Suffolk ales in The Duke’s Head, the estate pub, or tucking into
locavore dishes at The Fritton Arms.

Stay: Ivywood
Cottage

Another filming location that has moved for season four is that
of Windsor Castle – for seasons one to three, the crew made tracks
for Lincolnshire’s Belvoir Castle. This time around, it’s embodied
by Burghley House, a 16th-century Elizabethan affair built by
William Cecil, Queen Elizabeth I’s Lord High Treasurer. The house
and gardens are closed to the public until March 2021; in the
meantime, take a nosey around via this interactive tour – the Heaven Room is pretty
special, as is the Hell Staircase.

Stay: Pea Cottage

You don’t have to be a royalist to know that the Queen likes to
summer on her Scottish estate of Balmoral, which Prince Albert
bought for Queen Victoria in 1852. Filming is a no-no in this
private residence, so the 19th-century baronial house of Ardverikie
makes a convincing dupe. You’ll likely remember this spot from
previous seasons, but in season four it’s where Charles and Diana
spend their honeymoon. Tour the castle, join a stalker to feed the
wild red-deer herd and live like a royal in one of the estate’s
several holiday cottages.

Stay: Inverpattack
Lodge

Of course, if Charles and Di are honeymooning, they’ll be
getting hitched in season four too. The pair famously tied the knot
at St Paul’s in 1981 in the so-called “wedding of the century”,
with Diana donning a meringue-like dress by designer Emanuel. St
Paul’s is, of course, open for the public to gander about or join a
service, but filming actually took place in 11th-century Winchester
Cathedral, one of the largest in Europe. Don’t miss Sound II, an
Antony Gormley statue installed in the crypt in 1986 or Jane
Austen’s tombstone in the north aisle.

Stay: The Wykeham Arms

Set in 300 acres of parkland just 30 minutes’ drive from central
London, this neo-Palladian home of the Byng dynasty hasn’t changed
much since its builders put down their tools in the 1750s. It comes
as small surprise, then, that it has formed a louche backdrop to
films such as Gosford Park, Kingsman: Secret Service and, in fact,
for previous seasons of The Crown, in scenes where the Queen meets
with the PMs. In season four, Wrotham is reincarnated as Gatcombe
Park, the Gloucestershire home of Princess Anne. It’s not generally
open to the public, but those with a spiffingly healthy bank
account can hire it out for events – Simon Cowell held his
£1million 50th-birthday bash here in 2009.

Stay: Birch