Castle gave Rose a cold fashioned life
SHE found international fame as the fur-clad wildling Ygritte, surviving the harsh winters of cult fantasy television series Game of Thrones.
Yet Hollywood actor Rose Leslie believes the chill of the fictional Westeros scarcely compares to the cold reality of the family’s ancestral home.
The 35-year-old grew up in Lickleyhead Castle, near Auchleven, Aberdeenshire, the ancient seat of the Leslie clan, of which her father Sebastian is chieftain.
Growing up in a castle may be the stuff of childhood dreams, but the building’s listed status meant few modern creature comforts.
She told an interview with The Observer Magazine that for much of the time the castle was ‘bone-deep cold,’ adding: ‘People can’t wrap their head around the fact we couldn’t double glaze.’
But she admitted the castle’s remote location steered her towards acting, as she and her five siblings would perform to amuse each other and stave off boredom.
She said: ‘We were stuck with one another. We did a lot of mucking about, essentially trying to kill time.
‘There were loud booming voices from all of us: you had to very much make yourself heard if you wanted your point to be put across.’
Miss Leslie, who recently relocated to New York, is about to star in the title role of the Time Traveler’s Wife, a new HBO six-part series.