‘The Crown’ Season 6: Set Secrets Include an Exact Recreation of the Last Place Princess Diana Lived and a Tiny Horse in Queen Elizabeth’s Purse
As with any large-scale production such as Netflix’s The Crown, what viewers see in the background is just as important as the actors playing the series’ key roles. Season 6 is no exception, with spectacular sets that appear as authentic as the places they replicate. However, along with that essential element are more minor set secrets, which provide even more legitimacy to the House of Windsor‘s story.
‘The Crown’ sets lend a feeling of authenticity to the series
The Crown set decorator Alison Harvey spoke to Elle Decor about creating the series’ sets. She shared a behind-the-scenes glimpse into some of season 6’s most spectacular filming locations and many smaller items that lent historical accuracy to the series.
“We aren’t making a documentary, so we can’t copy anything exactly. But we have to do it in the spirit of rather than creating a direct replication,” Harvey shared.
“There were a lot of conversations about where the head in the kiss shot should be and even what kind of drapes, colors, textures, and art we wanted to bring in. We wanted to create an atmosphere that’s correct for the emotional arc of that scene rather than a rigid reproduction.”
An exact replicaiton of The Ritz hotel, where Princess Diana last lived with Dodi Fayed, was built specifically for scenes in The Crown. “It was such a complicated combination of sets from scratch,” Harvey admits.
Other items are not so readily seen, such as a tiny horse located in Queen Elizabeth’s purse
While the sets are concrete representations of areas where the royal family lived, worked, laughed, and loved, other nods aren’t so readily seen. Take, for example, the contents of Queen Elizabeth’s ever-present purse.
Set director Alison Harvey revealed, “You rarely look at the Queen’s handbag, but if you look closely, you might spot some things.”
While the team wasn’t able to recreate the exact contents of the monarch’s purse, they did rely on some knowledge of what she did keep with her at all times for historical purposes.
“She’s got a miniature lucky horse, which she apparently carried around with her. As well as a table hook to hang her handbag on,” Harvey shared.
“We didn’t get a chance to choose every single lipstick or handkerchief for her. But we put a few odds and ends in there to cheer up her character.”
There are also things hidden within the drawers, so fans should keep an eye out
Other items fans should watch for are visible when characters open drawers. Some are hidden objects, while others are in plain sight.
“We love to put things in drawers,” Harvey continued. “The actor can open a drawer, and something surprising is there for them.”
The set designer revealed that many of the items correspond to the personalities of the characters the actors portrayed. Hidden within Prince Philip’s drawers were naughty postcards, Harvey revealed, because “he was so improper.”
There are chocolates in Margaret Thatcher’s drawers because she was known to enjoy sweets. In Princess Diana’s drawers, the set designers placed trinkets from Australia to reflect her tour with then-Prince Charles in 1983,
The sixth and final season of The Crown debuts its first four episodes beginning November 16. The remaining six installments drop on December 14.
