Primary Studio and Soundstage Locations
The Crown's interior palace scenes and studio work were primarily filmed at Pinewood Studios in Buckinghamshire, England. The production utilized historic soundstages and backlot areas to construct detailed replicas of Buckingham Palace, 10 Downing Street, and other iconic interiors. The series employed a rotating cast and crew over its six-season run, with Pinewood serving as the central hub for principal photography across all seasons Pinewood Studios.
Production designer Martin Childs and his team built multiple full-scale interior sets at Pinewood, including the Buckingham Palace throne room and the Downing Street cabinet room. These controlled studio environments allowed for precise period-accurate recreations of 1940s through 2000s interiors. The Crown's use of Pinewood Studios represents one of the most extensive studio-based historical drama productions in recent television history.
Key Real-World Exterior and Historic Estate Locations
Exterior shots of royal residences and country estates were filmed at several National Trust and privately owned historic properties across England and Scotland. Highclere Castle in Hampshire served as the exterior of Downton Abbey's fictional counterpart and was used for exterior palace shots in early seasons. The Crown also filmed at Castle Howard in Yorkshire, which stood in for multiple royal and aristocratic estates throughout the series Castle Howard.
Sandringham Estate in Norfolk provided exterior footage for the Royal Family's private country retreat, while the historic city of Edinburgh served as the primary location for scenes set in Scotland. The production also utilized Lancaster House in London as a stand-in for Buckingham Palace interiors in later seasons. These carefully selected locations provided authentic period architecture without requiring extensive digital augmentation.
International Filming Locations and Final Season Production
The Crown expanded its geographic scope in later seasons, with filming moving to locations outside the United Kingdom. The final two seasons were produced by Sony Pictures Television and Left Bank Pictures, with principal photography spanning multiple continents. Production teams established temporary base camps in Malta, where the series recreated mid-century Mediterranean scenes Forbes.
The series also filmed specific scenes at the Château de Candé in the Loire Valley, France, which served as the exterior of the Duke of Windsor's French residence. Netflix's production infrastructure supported location filming across these international sites, with the Crown becoming one of the most geographically diverse streaming series ever produced. The final season wrapped principal photography in 2023, completing the series' extensive global filming footprint Netflix.