Just last May, the world got to experience a real-life coronation when King Charles ascended to the throne. Over on Shondaland’s new Netflix series “Queen Charlotte: A Bridgeton Story,” there was a coronation too that needed to take place, and it was up to production designer David Ingram to create one.
When it came to pulling off Queen Charlotte’s (played by India Amarteifio) coronation, Ingram considers it fortunate that the show was shot in the U.K. “We could get the carriage,” Ingram says, stressing it was a replica one. “We could hire it and adapt it. We were able to reupholster it and repaint it.”
But the golden carriage was the least of his problems. The challenge was how to approach Westminster Abbey, traditionally used for real coronations, weddings and funerals, about how to shoot the scene.
When Ingram went to the central London location, he went to look at the real coronation chair. “I think it’s one of the oldest pieces of furniture remaining in the U.K. There were massive amounts of graffiti, the result of Westminster schoolboys and visitors carving their names in the 18th and 19th centuries, carved in over generations, and it’s quite incredible.”
On closer inspection, Ingram took in how much the Abbey had changed, such as the organ box being in the middle. “The visual effects clean up would have been immense and it wouldn’t have been able to give us what we wanted, and we wouldn’t have been able to light and drape it how we wanted,” he says. “It was just the logistics of shutting Westminster Abbey down and getting trucks in. It wouldn’t have given us the payoff or control.”
He decided to create his own Westminster Abbey to incorporate everything he needed.
“So, we built it on a stage. We built the altar, the floor and the sidewall. On the other side, we had a foreground wall piece that we shot through to give you the impression of a fourth wall.”
Ingram says he also built the columns of the Abbey on the stage, and he draped them as they would have done in 1760 when the show is set. By building his own Abbey, Ingram could deliver richness, but more importantly authenticity. “It’s such a rich set. The floor is rich with green tiles. The fabrics are very rich reds and velvets, and yes, we did build the chair.” He adds, “It wasn’t as rundown or graffitied as the real one.”
