A Royal Grand Design on ITV1 reveals how King Charles III has spent over a decade working on an incredible passion project to restore the Dumfries House Estate in Scotland.
The one-off documentary sees the monarch explain how he and a team of experts worked tirelessly to breathe new life into the run-down estate, which also featured in the recent special of The Repair Shop.
Here’s everything you need to know about A Royal Grand Design…
A Royal Grand Design — what is the release date?
The documentary will air on Wednesday, November 30, 2022, on ITV1 at 9 pm and will also be available on ITV HUB, which will become ITVX from Thursday, December 8.
A Royal Grand Design — what is it about?
Cameras follow the monarch over several years as he details how, in 2007, as Prince of Wales, he, along with a consortium, bought the 2000-acre Dumfries House Estate in Ayrshire for £45 million to try to save its fortunes.
He was keen to keep the estate intact, including all the furnishings in the 18th-century house, and also regenerate the local area.
“I knew if we hadn’t stepped in and saved it, somebody would have bought it and said they had a great idea for golf courses and things and it would never have worked, so it would have joined the list of yet more derelict country houses,” says His Majesty.
What renovations are made?
The film, which is narrated by Richard E Grant, sees a range of experts try to restore and conserve items in the house including chairs and a Chippendale bookcase.
“If you think of the skill, devotion and dedication that went into building these buildings, with unbelievably skilled craftsmen, very often their descendants are still in the area, so I’ve always felt we owe it to those skilled craftsmen to help maintain the results of their labours,” says His Majesty.
It also looks at how the house’s walled garden — one of the largest in Europe — undergoes a huge makeover. While part of it is turned into an ornamental area with a belvedere or viewing point designed by King Charles himself, the rest is made into a community garden.
"It’s got the wonderful teaching garden, which makes a huge difference to local people,” says King Charles. “We get the children in to learn about food and where it comes from and help them to grow it.”
His Majesty was also keen to preserve a host of traditional trades and train the next generation of hospitality, horticultural, technology and engineering workers by setting up courses and apprenticeships at Dumfries House. And at the heart of his plans is sustainability.
“All of that agenda is critical here because there’s a lot of engineering skills, for instance, we are trying to help develop, working on the educational side and the vocational side in order to make this area a great example of how you can create new businesses and jobs in the green economy,” he says.
When the project is completed, the then Prince of Wales is seen showing his late mother Queen Elizabeth II around the estate, along with his son Prince William. But he is most proud of bringing work and hope to the local community, which has faced difficulties.
“I wanted to rescue the house because it is of such importance,” says His Majesty. “I knew it was a very deprived area and I wanted to use it as a proper example of what I’ve always believed in, which is heritage-led regeneration and trying to show people that it works.”
Is there a trailer?
Not yet, but we will add it here when one is released.
