As Princess Mary lives fairly locally, the Downton set are obviously used to seeing her at various functions in the county, and prior to this event, there has been some discussion about how sad the Princess often seems. Isobel remarks on this, although Violet sees her demeanour as fitting for someone of her station, replying, ‘She is royal. Royal women are not meant to grin like Cheshire cats.’
Royal or not, there is certainly a sense of melancholy about Princess Mary, which Kate Phillips, who plays her, was interested to explore. ‘In the script, she comes across initially as quite sad and she does have a shy temperament. Of course, the royal family were quite burdened by this overall sense of duty, and there were episodes in Princess Mary’s life where she really stepped up to the mark, doing a lot of charity work during the war. So she was pretty robust but reserved at the same time.’
‘During the film,’ Kate continues, ‘she’s allowed to overcome her shyness and she shines more – and I think Michael [Engler, the director], was keen to draw that out and show a different side to her. In fact, I had an opportunity to talk to Michael about the character of Princess Mary – on the surface she’s very controlled and rehearsed but inwardly there’s this world of emotion. We talked about what’s buzzing underneath, which really helped me to flesh out the character.’
‘We saw an image of Princess Mary with her two sons, who are dressed in shorts, blouses and little ties. We replicated those outfits and her dress for the scene.’
Anna Robbins, costume designer
Contributing to Princess Mary’s sadness is her apparently strained relationship with her stern husband, Lord Lascelles, played by Andrew Havill. He fails to accompany the Princess at various events, as noticed with increasing concern by the King and Queen, and frowns upon the appearance of the children during tea, although the two boys are clearly a source of delight to Princess Mary.
In playing a royal, Kate was also intrigued to talk to historical advisor Alastair Bruce, who briefed her on how she should hold herself, which she found invaluable in creating the outer shell of her character, while everything else was bubbling below the surface. ‘Changing your posture or mannerisms really affect the overall rhythm. I’m quite jittery in how I speak and use lots of hand movement, which is something she wouldn’t have done. There was a scene with Branson, when he comes upon me when I’m lost in my thoughts, and I turn. I instinctively turned very quickly, as that’s just me, and Michael had to remind me to turn more slowly and sedately.’
‘Princess Mary has to straddle playing the role of princess, and what’s expected of her, with her own private struggles, and there’s real tension between those two things.’
Michael Engler, director
That scene with Tom Branson, where the two characters talk alone in the grounds of Downton Abbey, was a key one for Kate. Branson notices that something is troubling Princess Mary, although he doesn’t know who she is. Recognising this, she grabs the opportunity to have a frank conversation with Branson, asking him how he manages to live with a family who are very different to him. ‘Branson is completely open with her,’ explains Kate, ‘because he doesn’t realise she’s a princess. It’s a rare moment for her – they’re just two people talking – and it makes for a touching scene.’
It’s an emotional moment for Princess Mary, which was helped by the fact that the scene was shot in the grounds of Highclere. ‘We were sitting on a bench and I had this incredible view of rolling hills and a stunning landscape,’ says Kate. ‘Mary is meant to be lost in thought when Branson comes across her and the location did really help to stir up those emotions!’
The discussion has a considerable impact on the Princess – she sees that Branson has had to prioritise what’s important to him and his daughter, and she in her way must do the same. In her case, she must focus on the interests that she and her husband share and make the best of it. What matters is her duty to the royal family. ‘Her personal relationships have to come second to the Crown,’ adds Kate, ‘and that’s a journey she has to go through. Her mother, Queen Mary, is already there, she just has to realise it for herself.’
The Real Princess Mary
Princess Mary in 1917.
Princess Mary, Countess of Harewood, was born in 1897, the third child and only daughter of King George V and Queen Mary. She had four brothers, the future King Edward VIII and King George VI and two younger brothers, John, who died in 1919, and George, Duke of Kent, who would die in an air crash in 1942.
The young princess grew up in York Cottage on the Sandringham estate and was tutored at home. Unlike her brothers, she showed an aptitude for her studies, becoming fluent in German and French and also developing a passion for riding. As the girl of the family, she was treated more leniently than her brothers by her disciplinarian father. The five children saw little of their father when they were very young while Queen Mary tended to treat them as small adults and, as was typical with noble families, set aside just an hour a day to see her children (Lord Lascelles in the film was clearly brought up to expect the same).
Princess Mary in a Red Cross nurse’s uniform with her mother.
Often isolated at home, without the company of girls of her own age, Princess Mary was reserved in public – the Prime Minister Herbert Asquith described her ‘shy, girlish charm, which leaves one with the impression of nervous pleasure and fatherly respect’.
The outbreak of the First World War, however, would help to bring the Princess out of her shell. Keen to do something for the war effort, she supported her mother in public appearances and set up various projects to bring comfort to British servicemen and their families. One such project was the organisation of a fund to cover the sending of a brass tin containing tobacco, chocolates and cigarettes to every soldier fighting in France at Christmas 1914. She also supported various voluntary and charitable organisations and worked as a trainee nurse at Great Ormond Street Hospital.
▲ The ceremony was the first to be featured in Vogue magazine, Princess Mary sharing details of her dress, trousseau and honeymoon lodgings with the readers as ‘another act of friendliness to the women of the Empire’. Among the bridesmaids was Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon (later Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother), who was a friend of Princess Mary.
Once the war was over, it was time to find Mary a husband, although it was not a particularly easy task to find a good match for a royal on British shores. In 1921, Princess Mary was seen with Henry, Viscount Lascelles at the Chatsworth estate in Derbyshire and at the Grand National horse race. Henry was the eldest son of the 5th Earl of Harewood, had a large personal fortune, vast lands, an impressive war record, a fine collection of paintings, and shared the royals’ love of shooting and riding.
The match was thus encouraged by Mary’s parents although he was fifteen years older than the Princess, lacking in charm, with the look, some said, of a ‘dismal bloodhound’. The stern demeanour perhaps belied a more colourful youth, as just a decade earlier he was said to have fallen madly in love with the famed novelist and poet Vita Sackville-West, whose later lovers included Virginia Woolf and Violet Keppel. In fact, it is said that Virginia Woolf based one of her Orlando characters, Archduke Harry, on Lord Lascelles – a comic character who is madly in love with Orlando; she finds him essentially boring and lacking in wit.
The wedding of Princess Mary and Lord Lascelles went ahead on 28 February 1922, and it was far from a quiet affair. It was the first grand state occasion since the war, and was met with huge fanfare. Royal weddings had previously been private affairs whereas this took place on the streets of London – the Princess’s older brother the Duke of York remarking, ‘It is no longer Mary’s wedding, but (this from the papers) it is the “Abbey Wedding” or the “Royal Wedding”, or the “National Wedding”, or even the “People’s Wedding”.’ Pathé News filmed the grand procession between Buckingham Palace and Westminster Abbey, large crowds thronging the streets.
The newly-weds based themselves largely at the family home of Harewo
od House and at Goldsborough Hall on the Harewood estate. They also had residences in London and Ireland but Mary felt most at home in Yorkshire, in the relative isolation of the countryside. Two sons arrived swiftly, first George in 1923 and then Gerald in 1924. Princess Mary’s shy and sometimes sad demeanour fuelled rumours that her marriage was not altogether a happy one. Lascelles appeared gruff and autocratic, not unnoticed by the royal family with Mary’s eldest brother, the Prince of Wales, once commenting: ‘I get commoner and commoner, while Lascelles gets more and more royal.’
In 1932, Princess Mary was awarded the title of Princess Royal following the death of her aunt Princess Louise. Lord Lascelles had succeeded his father, becoming the 6th Earl of Harewood, some three years earlier. Mary continued to make regular appearances in public, spending as much time as she could with her family in Yorkshire. She maintained a close relationship with her eldest brother, the Prince of Wales, before and after he abdicated the throne in 1936. As the Second World War broke out, she stepped up her public engagements, visiting amongst others, units of the Women’s Royal Army Corps as the Controller Commandant. In 1947, Lord Lascelles died, and the Princess Royal continued to live at Harewood House with her son George and his family. She was made Chancellor of the University of Leeds in 1948, the first woman to hold such an office in Britain, and throughout the 1950s and 1960s, she continued to carry out official duties at home and abroad.
Princess Mary with her sons Gerald and George.
On 28 March 1965, while walking with her eldest son in the grounds of Harewood, Princess Mary suffered a heart attack and died in his arms. The subsequent Times obituary remarked upon her as someone who had an ‘active, unobtrusive and personal life’, who had managed to overcome her ‘natural reserve’ and served the nation, especially in Yorkshire where she was ‘dearly loved with a constant and rare fidelity.’
LORD LASCELLES
Andrew Havill
There is much talk at Downton about Lord Lascelles, the husband of Princess Mary. Whereas the King and Queen are very much a united front, Lord Lascelles fails to join his wife at Downton Abbey or the parade in the village, and all does not seem well with the marriage.
We first see Lord Lascelles when Cora, Edith and Mary are having tea with Princess Mary at Harewood. He appears at the doorway, an older, stern-looking figure who is disgruntled to see his two young sons with the ladies, as the rules of the house dictate that they’re not allowed in the drawing room before six o’clock. Rather reluctantly, he acknowledges the presence of the Crawleys, stipulates that the children are not allowed at the parade as ‘they’ll only cause a ruckus’, and abruptly departs, leaving a distinctly unfavourable impression on all present.
Andrew Havill, who plays Lord Lascelles, agrees: ‘He’s not a barrel of laughs and I suspect he was not much fun to be married to. He obviously likes his rules, being a military man, and he expects his family to live by them. Of course, he was involved in heavy fighting during the war and my suspicion is there was quite a lot of psychological damage there. This was very much a time of just getting on with it, stiff upper lip and all that.’
The scene where we first see Lord Lascelles was filmed at Harewood House, where the real Lord Lascelles grew up and lived with Princess Mary and the house is still the home to the current 8th Earl of Harewood, David Lascelles. In fact, there are a number of portraits of Henry Lascelles dotted around the house and the current family were delighted to see how similar Andrew looked to the real man.
‘Andrew, who plays Lord Lascelles, is very jovial and fun, the complete opposite of his character! Sometimes I think that’s quite useful as he can give that certain twinkle in the eye, which sometimes comes across in Lascelles.’
Kate Phillips
For the ballroom scene, Andrew was required to wear court dress, which he had reservations about – ‘I felt a bit better when I saw Matthew Goode [Henry Talbot] dressed in the breeches and stockings because he actually looked okay. However, Matthew looked far better than I did, and I remember Hugh [Lord Grantham] joking, who in history ever decided this was a good look?!’
At the ball, there is something of a truce between Princess Mary and Lord Lascelles – he asks her what she wants and she says that they need to try harder to be friends and to share the things they have in common, such as their boys and horses. In reality, the couple did make a go of it and the marriage survived, their eldest son even commenting in his memoirs that they got on well ‘and had a lot of friends and interests in common’.
Princess Mary: ‘I want us to be friends.’
Lascelles: ‘Well. We’ll have to see.’
Princess Mary: ‘No, dear. We’ll have to change. Both of us.’
Behind the Scenes
THE BALL AT HAREWOOD
INT. BALLROOM. NIGHT.
The first dance is finishing. Lord Lascelles is with the Queen, the Princess with her father. But now they return to their spouses. It is a waltz. Gradually couples join, including Mary and Henry, Edith and Bertie, Robert and Cora.
The stately home of Wentworth Woodhouse provided a suitably grand backdrop for the ballroom scene in the movie. Filming of the dancing took place in the stunning Marble Saloon, where in history some of the house’s most extravagant balls have been held, with royal guests at some. With its high stucco ceilings and grand proportions, the saloon could also accommodate a large production crew and equipment, an orchestra and space for the key cast and extras to dance.
For the director of photography Ben Smithard and the whole crew, it was a challenging scene to film. ‘It’s a big space and there were a lot of cast and extras involved. One of the cameras was on a crane shooting the main dance below – the camera would travel around in one direction and then the opposite direction, changing the background and isolating different characters as they danced. This helps to add dynamism and allows the editing team to choose the right shots for the scene.’
The cast enjoyed filming the grand ball scene, although it was a long and exhausting day for many of them. Douglas Reith, who plays Lord Merton, recalls, ‘It was a huge dancefloor and we were all dressed in our finery. The men were in court dress: tail coats, white waistcoats and white tie, breeches, tights and patent pumps. Most of us knew how to waltz but we had to do the Viennese waltz which is really fast. It involves spinning around and around and it’s very easy to get dizzy and you really have to whoosh your partner around with each turn – good fun but demanding.’
The scene also featured professional musicians in the orchestra, who had to mime playing their instruments. The dancers had the music playing through earpieces – not unlike a silent disco – so the cast’s microphones could pick up their dialogue.
To prepare for the ballroom scene, dancing rehearsals were of course a must. These were overseen by choreographer Diana Scrivener, who had worked with the cast and crew of Downton Abbey for many years. Prior to the shoot, she had one day of rehearsals, which took place at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts (LAMDA). In the morning, she worked with her ‘core’ dancers: six couples made up of ex-LAMDA students who would be dancing near to the main cast. She then went through the steps with the actors, making sure they felt comfortable with the technique, while her core dancers moved around them. ‘If any actors then try speaking their lines and it somehow doesn’t fit or they don’t feel comfortable, then we might adapt things a little,’ explains Diana. ‘With dialogue, the camera is going to be focused on the upper part of the body and not on their feet. So if they need to move slightly less when speaking, that’s fine, and then they can get back to the set piece.’
‘You often have dialogue in dance scenes, as there’s intimacy between the couples. In the past, so much happened at dances and these scenes provide film screenwriters with the perfect means to get across an important point. What they might not realise is the total fear many actors feel when they know they have to walk and talk at the same time!’
For the actual dances, Diana chose firstly to do
the veleta, although we only see the very end of that dance in the ballroom scene. ‘It was a popular, beautiful dance, involving couples moving around the ballroom all doing the same thing, like a formation dance,’ explains Diana. ‘As the King and Queen, and Princess Mary and Lord Lascelles were dancing, we wanted something that was regal and not too fast. After that, the main dance we see is the Viennese waltz, in which couples move around and around, with lots of movement and gives the impression of real activity.’
Protocol dictated that only married women could wear a tiara. As Isobel, Edith and Mary are now all married, Anna Robbins was able to give them all tiaras in the movie. The ones worn by Violet, Cora and Edith at the ball were all authentic diamond tiaras on loan from London jewellers Bentley & Skinner.
In the script, Edith’s ballgown is made by Madame Handley-Seymour, a real-life upmarket atelier who was known for reworking catwalk looks in her London salon, so Anna Robbins looked to Parisian designs as reference. ‘I wanted to put Edith in gold, to create a dress that had great dramatic effect. I sourced a panné velvet from Italy, which draped beautifully with lovely movement, and commissioned a print for the velvet to add a metallic shimmer.’
The shooting schedule meant that Anna first had to make the over-sized shapeless version of the gown that Edith receives by mistake, and then transform the same dress to fit Laura Carmichael – exactly as Miss Lawton has to do in the film.
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