This September, royal mania hits
Downton Abbey, and even the lord and
ladies succumb to palace obsession. When
creator Lord Julian Fellowes sat down to
spin his period drama series into a film,
he knew he needed a premise sumptuous
enough to satisfy the fans who will have
spent nearly four years awaiting Lady
Mary’s return. “You’re looking for a central
story that will bind everyone together—
affect the characters upstairs, downstairs,
and in the village,” says Fellowes, who
dreamed up a visit by the king and queen
of England to the Crawley estate in 1927,
picking up a year and a half after the series
finale takes place. The film’s story line was
inspired by an actual royal visit that KingSpotlightPHOTOGRAPHS BY
MARK NEVILLE
Abbey