Among the stately homes used to imitate Buckingham Palace, Pall Mall's palatial Lancaster House took on most State Room scenes. It was the 18th-century home of the Duke of York (yes, the Grand Old one) and once the epicentre of high society. Today it's owned by the Foreign Office. Recognise it? Lancaster House has featured in other regal films such as The King's Speech. There's no regular public access, but it's possible to book a tour.

The facade of this gothic revival mansion was cast as Gordonstoun, the Scottish public school where the Duke of Edinburgh and Prince of Wales were educated (and which Charles famously hated). Filming couldn't take place inside, however, as construction was abandoned in the mid-19th century when owner William Leigh ran out of cash. Hauntingly majestic, Woodchester Mansion is open to the public between April and November.

While this South London house dates back to the 13th century, much of it was built in the 30s - its art-deco curved furniture and veneered surfaces made it the ideal stand-in for Bermuda's Government House and the Queen's quarters in Royal Yacht Britannia. Elizabeth's meeting with fashion designer Norman Hartnell was filmed in the Scandi-style, glass-domed entrance hall. Check the English Heritage website for opening times.

Two hours' drive from the real Balmoral Castle in Aberdeenshire, this grand 19th-century hunting lodge doubles as the Queen's favourite Scottish retreat. You may recognise Ardverikie's stone towers from the 1997 film Mrs Brown (though the real Queen Victoria beat Dame Judi to the estate when she stayed here in 1847). Spend the night in one of the on-site cottages and enjoy castle tours and wildlife activities.

With the aid of a specially constructed portico, the Old Royal Naval College was a dupe for Buckingham Palace's courtyard. The location has a colourful history: Henry VIII, Mary I and Elizabeth I were born at Greenwich Palace (its original incarnation), Anne Boleyn was arrested here and Shakespeare performed. Visit today and the (recently restored) buildings you see were designed by Sir Christopher Wren in the 18th century as a hospital for naval veterans. Open daily.

Remember King George's operation in that makeshift theatre at Buckingham Palace? It was shot near St Paul's Cathedral in the Grade I-listed Goldsmiths' Hall (extras included real surgeons from Guys Hospital). Despite devastation by bombing in 1941, the hall has served as headquarters for one of London's Great Twelve Livery Companies since the early 14th century. Open days are held throughout the year.

This 19th-century neo-renaissance manor was the site of Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild's raucous Saturday-to-Monday house parties. Thankfully, since the manor was bequeathed to the National Trust in 1957, you no longer have to be a blue blood to visit. While its magnificent facade echoed Buckingham Palace in The Crown, Waddesdon also backdropped the less salubrious 1966 Carry On Don't Lose Your Head film set during the French Revolution.

Founded in 1910, this art-deco airport is the UK's oldest of its kind. It backdropped several scenes in The Crown, including when the newly appointed Queen arrives back from South Africa in the wake of her father's death. The terminal is now part of Brighton City Airport, so you'll likely visit only if you're attending flying school or own a light aircraft. How very regal.

Slains Castle appeared as the Castle of Mey, a Caithness property bought by the Queen Mother in 1952 and used as her holiday home for the next half century. The castle's ruined state meant it only afforded exterior shots. Dramatically perched on a cliff overlooking the North Sea, it was once ruled by the powerful Clan Hay and is said to have inspired Bram Stoker's Dracula. Walk from the nearby village of Cruden Bay for frightfully spiffing vistas.

Her Majesty's audiences with the PMs were shot at this neo-palladian estate. Surrounded by 300 acres, the secluded Wrotham Park hasn't changed much since it was designed in 1754 - it remains in the care of the same Byng family for whom it was constructed. While it isn't open to the public, those with deep pockets can hire the house for events; Cheryl and Ashley Cole had their wedding blessed here in 2006 and Simon Cowell held his £1million 50th birthday bash on the grounds three years later.

Ely Cathedral stands in for Westminster Abbey where the Queen is married, crowned and subject to Philip's brutal line: "Are you my Queen or my wife?" Though the Anglican temple dates back to 1083, when there was a spate of building following the Norman Conquest, its origins can be traced to 627 when St Ethelreda built an Anglo-Saxon abbey on the site. The cathedral is open to visitors daily - climb the Octagon Tower, a marvel of the medieval world.

Outside Blighty, this is The Crown's go-to foreign location. In Season 1 it served as Kenya during the then Princess's Commonwealth tour, and in Season 2 it set the scene for Philip's world tour: Melbourne was shot in Cape Town, the Keurbooms River covered for the Amazon, and Hermanus was Bermuda. In fact, Antarctica was the Duke of Edinburgh's only pitstop not filmed in South Africa - that was shot in a quarry near London.

Originally owned by Henry VIII, this Jacobean mansion is where the infamous king raised his children and told his daughter Elizabeth I of her succession to the crown. Now it's home to the seventh Marquess and Marchioness of Salisbury. In The Crown, Hatfield House is used as the home of Queen Mary, Elizabeth's widowed grandmother. It's only an hour's drive from London, so visit to marvel at the golden ceiling of the Long Gallery, the tapestry-draped walls of the drawing room and a library that would make any book lover gasp.