Queen and Countryfile

Her Majesty invites TV show to film at three royal residences

THREE of the Queen’s favourite residences will open their gates to TV crews to mark the 30th anniversary of Countryfile.

The Windsors are known to be huge fans of BBC1’S Sunday evening show, with the monarch and her husband Prince Philip among its nine million regular viewers.

Now, the royal couple have allowed filming to take place in two of their private homes plus Windsor Castle, to show viewers the inner workings of each estate. Countryfile celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2013 by interviewing Prince Charles at his main home Highgrove, in Gloucestershire.

The show’s 30th birthday will be marked by a three-part special, to air next month and in June, at the places where Charles’s mother and father most enjoy spending time.

It will go behind the walls of the Queen’s “personal and private” residences, Sandringham in Norfolk, which has a working farm, and Balmoral Castle in Aberdeenshire.

The show will also visit her weekend home, Windsor Castle in Berkshire. BBC bosses were thrilled to get permission to film inside the royal estates, with main presenters John Craven, Anita Rani, Matt Baker and Ellie Harrison, as well as farmer Adam Henson.

One source said: “It’s a real coup to be allowed to film from within the Queen’s various gardens and homes around the UK. It is certain to be revealing.

“We haven’t had this much insight into the monarch’s life since we discovered back in 2003 that she keeps her cereal in Tupperware