The acclaimed NETFLIX series THE CROWN, concludes with Season 6, taking the audience through the life and reign of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and the public landscape of the royal family. In the video conversation here, Set Decorator Alison Harvey SDSA, who worked with Set Decorator Celia Bobak SDSA* on the first season before taking over the entire series for subsequent seasons, talks with Halina Siwolop SDSA about not only this season, but also how set decoration from earlier seasons reflects on the final episodes of palaces, castles, royal apartments, cathedrals, churches and memories. They also discuss procuring royal-worthy fabrics, furnishings and wall coverings...and the heightened importance of lampshades. –Gene Cane
Alison speaks of the wonderful partnership that developed with Production Designer Martin Childs...they worked together from the beginning through the end of the series! Do watch the video for those moments and so much more. She also graciously gave us some additional inside info and insights, below...
From Set Decorator Alison Harvey SDSA
“There were, I think, 400 sets in Season 6, and some particular challenges. The opening sequences of the weeks leading up to Diana’s crash were very carefully discussed and how we could represent it. An enormous amount of research went into finding as much truth to the event of that night as possible - particularly the last journey and timeline. It was important to everyone that the subject was approached with extreme sensitivity and respect. We studied crash forensics in detail, and the report the public enquiry produced a few years later was extremely useful. The crash itself was never discussed to be recreated, but we tried to tell the story through the investigation in a later episode.”
The Ritz Paris...
“The sequence in Paris and the Ritz required 9 different locations, with set builds in Spain, Paris and London, and the challenge was to link them seamlessly to create some visual cohesion. Looking at images of the Ritz at the time, and along with images of the Fayed's, we landed on a cream, gilt and crystal decoration with an emphasis on French Louis XV furniture and French art. This ran through all of the sets to link the locations.”
The parallel worlds of the Royals and the Fayeds...
“It was interesting to explore the parallel worlds of the Royals and The Fayeds, both extremely rich and spending their money in similar ways - but with a quite different taste. The Queen and the Royal Yacht: extraordinary properties and enormous wealth. Al Fayed and a Super Yacht: extraordinary properties and enormous wealth.”
The Royals, Balmoral Castle...
“The Royal expression ‘Old money’ is accurate...centuries old antiques and shabby castles. We dressed Balmoral with muted sage greens, plum and navy damasks, tartans, oak furniture, C19th Bronzes, taxidermy and old parchment lampshades—all virtually unchanged since Queen Victoria, 1903. All these sets were dressed in a wedding venue in North London...the drapery had to be made, and furniture, paintings and other furnishings were brought in for all 14 of the Balmoral sets.”
The Fayeds, St Tropez, yacht...
“For the Fayeds, as a contrast in Saint Tropez, we focused again on creams and gold...but a different highly polished gold. Expensive fabrics, but a Versace taste. A strong navy and gold from Ralph Lauren to root it in the ‘90s and give counterpoint to the pastels of that era. This also tied through to design in The Ritz Imperial Suite Paris built on the stage at Elstree where we see Diana’s final evening.”
“In the first 4 episodes of Season 6, the bright sunlight of the south of France (we dressed thousands of pounds of artificial bougainvillea onto the terrace) contrasted really well with the dreary drizzle of Scotland's Balmoral, where we didn't need to add rain!“
Paparazzi back stories...
“The pair of ‘paparazzi’ stories were, again, great worlds to create. For Mario Brenna, the Italian fashion photographer who caught the famous ‘Kiss’ between Diana and Dodi, we dressed an apartment in South London as if Monaco. It was complicated to create due to all the permissions required from the celebrities featured on his walls but absolutely essential to tell the story.
It was a great to create a set with more glamour and designer ‘70s classic furniture, such as the white leather De Sede sofa, than would normally find a place on THE CROWN. This again played against the set of a traditional Scottish Royal photographer, a very ‘quiet’ understated interior. Very modest with lots of woolens and tweed and sober light.”
Editor's note: For more photos, click on SHOW MORE PHOTOS below!
Scope...
“The scope and variety, decoratively over the six seasons, has been brilliant...to travel through each decade and try to root it visually in a time and space through furnishings, objects, colours and technology.”
“Over the years we've created: Australia 1980s, Greece 1940s, USA in the 1960s, Caribbean in the ‘70s, Egypt in the ‘40s, Bosnia 1990s. Russia in 1910 and 1980s, Germany 1940s, Ghana 1950s, New Zealand in 1950s, Paris 1990s, Hong Kong 1990s, Chile 2000s...All created either in Spain or the murky UK.”
Acknowledgements...
“I would like to acknowledge a few of the team members who deserve a mention for contributing such a lot...and being just amazing: Hannah Moseley, Sophie Coombes, Carolyn Boult, Anna Page, Naomi Block, Ali Cardy, Helen Byrne (florist extraordinaire!)...All the fantastic Graphic Designers and Drapes people over the Seasons. Thank You to ALL of our crew members throughout...And a special Thank You to the extraordinarily talented and gracious Martin Childs."
*Editor's Note:
See SETDECOR Archives for the 2017 article on the opening Season of THE CROWN
And don't forget to click on SHOW MORE PHOTOS below!
The Queen’s Funeral Parade mock-up, in which the Queen, Herself, took part in the planning years before. Set Decorator Alison Harvey SDSA embraced the task of finding tin soldiers from all over the world, and eventually 3-D printing some, so she and her team could accurately portray each regiment as would appear in the future procession. Alison gives fascinating details in the video conversion above.
