The Hatfield House Has Been The Set Of Some Amazing Movies
No, it's not deja-vu. It's the Hatfield House, part of the iconic Hatfield Park estate which has been the setting for dozens of films, music videos, and photo shots. Robert Cecil, the first Earl of Salisbury, built the Jacobean estate in 1611 at Salisbury. Currently, it is the home of Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 7th Marquess of Salisbury, a conservative politician and former member of the British Parliament. All private areas at Hatfield Park are off-limits to filming, according to the park's visitor operations manager Helen Landau, and the staff and any film crews still must take into account the property's annual near 100,000 visitors. Other than Hatfield House, Hatfield Park encompasses 42 acres of scenic gardens, St Etheldreda's Anglican church, nearly 200 rental homes, and a brick building known as the Old Palace.
Oh boy, when we say the Hatfield House is an estate, do we mean it. According to the Hatfield House website, Lord and Lady Salisbury "are keen to support the arts" by offering private roads, meadows, ancient trees, topiaries, wildflower meadows, a vegetable garden, an ornamental lake and something called an Elizabethan knot garden.
The famous Hatfield House has history
The Hatfield House website uses the perfect word to describe the rooms of the estate: "sumptuous." Sure, location scouts can choose to film anywhere, but how many private homes can say they were the childhood home of Elizabeth I? Yep, Hatfield Park has what's known as "the Old Palace," a home of King Henry VIII. Tatler reports then-Princess Elizabeth was sitting beneath an oak tree on the property when she learned she was to become queen. The tree is now called "the Elizabeth Oak." Beyond its decidedly upper crust pedigree, how many estates boast an armory and a Victorian kitchen with working features? Yet, the Hatfield House is no stuffy old manor home. They have a conference center! And a helipad!
Eagle-eyed pop culture junkies will recognize portions of the 223-room estate. The movie "Four Weddings And A Funeral" filmed at Hatfield House. 2018's "Spiderman" also filmed at Hatfield House. How about Hulu's "The Great," "Transformers: The Last Night," "Paddington 2", and "The King's Speech"? Yep. Hatfield House.
What else was filmed at the Hatfield House?
Take a deep breath, and let's go through some of productions filmed at the Hatfield Estate (via IMDb). For starters, Lily James' character in "Rebecca" is captivated by the estate when she arrives. Then in the 2019 Jonas Brothers video for the song "Sucker," the band members Nick, Joe, and Kevin Jonas pitch woo to their ladies Priyanka Chopra, Sophie Turner, and Danielle Jonas at the Hatfield House. Additionally, "The Favourite" consists of scene after scene of Emma Stone, Olivia Colman, and Rachel Weisz in the portrait-lined rooms of the manor house.
That's not all, either, as 2021's "Fast & Furious," Natalie Portman's instant classic "V for Vendetta," and the film that reignited the whole superhero genre, 2005's "Batman Begins," were filmed at the Hatfield House. That's also where you'll see Angelina Jolie in "Tomb Raider." And we can't forget the wonderfully weird adaptation of "Sleepy Hollow" by Tim Burton, nor can we skip Gwyneth Paltrow's Academy Award-winning turn in "Shakespeare in Love," both filmed at the Hatfield Estate.