Royal Upstairs Downstairs is a British television documentary series of 20 thirty minute episodes broadcast by BBC Two

BBC Two

BBC Two is the second television channel operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It covers a wide range of subject matter, but tending towards more 'highbrow' programmes than the more mainstream and popular BBC One. Like the BBC's other domestic TV and radio...

 each Monday to Friday evening from 7 March to 1 April 2011. The title is a reference to the drama series Upstairs, Downstairs

Upstairs, Downstairs

Upstairs, Downstairs is a British drama television series originally produced by London Weekend Television and revived by the BBC. It ran on ITV in 68 episodes divided into five series from 1971 to 1975, and a sixth series shown on the BBC on three consecutive nights, 26–28 December 2010.Set in a...

, which was about life "above stairs" (the family), and "below stairs" (the servants} in an early 20th century aristocratic household.

In each episode antiques expert Tim Wonnacott

Tim Wonnacott

Tim Wonnacott is a Chartered Auctioneer, Chartered Surveyor English antiques expert, television presenter. He has been Director of one of the world's oldest auction houses, Sotheby's...

 and chef Rosemary Shrager

Rosemary Shrager

Rosemary Shrager is an English chef, best known for being a haute cuisine teacher on the reality television programme Ladette to Lady, and as a judge on Soapstar Superchef....

 visited a country house or castle which had been visited in the 19th century by Queen Victoria. They told the story of Victoria's travels using her own diaries, other contemporary accounts, the household records of the stately homes, and contemporary illustrations, including many from the Illustrated London News

Illustrated London News

The Illustrated London News was the world's first illustrated weekly newspaper; the first issue appeared on Saturday 14 May 1842. It was published weekly until 1971 and then increasingly less frequently until publication ceased in 2003.-History:...

, which provided extensive coverage of Victoria's travels, its reporters and artists even being allowed inside the houses where the queen was staying to describe and draw the interiors and entertainments. Wonnacott examined items of art and furniture seen and often commented on by Victoria. Shrager examined how the servants coped with the demands of a royal visit, and cooked Victorian dishes with the assistance of food historian Ivan Day. In most cases they used the same kitchen as the Victorian chefs who cooked for the queen, and many of the dishes demonstrated were known to have been served to Victoria in the house in question.

The series progressed through Victoria's life in chronological order, starting with her visit to Chatsworth House

Chatsworth House

Chatsworth House is a stately home in North Derbyshire, England, northeast of Bakewell and west of Chesterfield . It is the seat of the Duke of Devonshire, and has been home to his family, the Cavendish family, since Bess of Hardwick settled at Chatsworth in 1549.Standing on the east bank of the...

 at the age of thirteen, where she attended her first grown up dinner party

Dinner party

Dinner Party or The Dinner Party may refer to:* A type of party* The Dinner Party,an installation artwork by Judy Chicago* The Dinner Party , by Neil Simon* Dinner Party , by Pier Vittorio Tondelli...

. The following eighteen episodes visited Shugborough Hall

Shugborough Hall

Shugborough is a country estate in Great Haywood, Staffordshire, England, 4 miles from Stafford on the edge of Cannock Chase. It comprises a country house, kitchen garden, and model farm...

, Harewood House

Harewood House

Harewood House is a country house located in Harewood , near Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It is a member of Treasure Houses of England, a marketing consortium for nine of the foremost stately homes in England...

, Holkham Hall

Holkham Hall

Holkham Hall is an eighteenth-century country house located adjacent to the village of Holkham, on the north coast of the English county of Norfolk...

, the Brighton Pavilion, Scone Palace

Scone Palace

Scone Palace is a Category A listed historic house at Scone, Perthshire, Scotland. It was constructed in 1808 for the Earls of Mansfield by William Atkinson...

, Walmer Castle

Walmer Castle

Walmer Castle was built by Henry VIII in 1539–1540 as an artillery fortress to counter the threat of invasion from Catholic France and Spain. It was part of his programme to create a chain of coastal defences along England's coast known as the Device Forts or as Henrician Castles...

, Wimpole Hall

Wimpole Hall

Wimpole Hall is a country house located within the Parish of Wimpole, Cambridgeshire, England, about 8½ miles southwest of Cambridge. The house, begun in 1640, and its 3,000 acres of parkland and farmland are owned by the National Trust and are regularly open to the public.Wimpole is...

, Belvoir Castle

Belvoir Castle

Belvoir Castle is a stately home in the English county of Leicestershire, overlooking the Vale of Belvoir . It is a Grade I listed building....

, Blair Castle

Blair Castle

Blair Castle stands in its grounds near the village of Blair Atholl in Perthshire in Scotland. It is the home of the Clan Murray family, who hold the title of Duke of Atholl, though the current Duke, John Murray, lives in South Africa....

, Burghley House

Burghley House

Burghley House is a grand 16th-century country house near the town of Stamford, Lincolnshire, England...

, Hatfield House

Hatfield House

Hatfield House is a country house set in a large park, the Great Park, on the eastern side of the town of Hatfield, Hertfordshire, England. The present Jacobean house was built in 1611 by Robert Cecil, First Earl of Salisbury and Chief Minister to King James I and has been the home of the Cecil...

, Castle Howard

Castle Howard

Castle Howard is a stately home in North Yorkshire, England, north of York. One of the grandest private residences in Britain, most of it was built between 1699 and 1712 for the 3rd Earl of Carlisle, to a design by Sir John Vanbrugh...

, Stoneleigh Abbey

Stoneleigh Abbey

Stoneleigh Abbey is a large country mansion situated to the southwest of the village of Stoneleigh, Warwickshire, England. It is a Grade I listed building.The Abbey was founded by the Cistercians in 1154...

, Warwick Castle

Warwick Castle

Warwick Castle is a medieval castle in Warwick, the county town of Warwickshire, England. It sits on a bend on the River Avon. The castle was built by William the Conqueror in 1068 within or adjacent to the Anglo-Saxon burh of Warwick. It was used as a fortification until the early 17th century,...

, Penrhyn Castle

Penrhyn Castle

Penrhyn Castle is a country house in Llandegai, Bangor, Gwynedd, North Wales, in the form of a Norman castle. It was originally a medieval fortified manor house, founded by Ednyfed Fychan. In 1438, Ioan ap Gruffudd was granted a licence to crenellate and he founded the stone castle and added a...

, Floors Castle

Floors Castle

Floors Castle, on the western outskirts of Kelso, south-east Scotland, is the seat of the Duke of Roxburghe. Despite its name it is a country house, rather than a fortress. It was built in the 1720s by the architect William Adam for the 1st Duke, possibly incorporating an earlier tower house...

, Hughenden

Hughenden

Hughenden may refer to:*Hughenden, Queensland, a town in Australia*Hughenden, Alberta, a village in central Alberta, Canada*Hughenden Valley, a village in Buckinghamshire, England*Hughenden Manor, a mansion in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, England...

, and Waddesdon Manor

Waddesdon Manor

Waddesdon Manor is a country house in the village of Waddesdon, in Buckinghamshire, England. The house was built in the Neo-Renaissance style of a French château between 1874 and 1889 for Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild . Since this was the preferred style of the Rothschilds it became also known as...

. The final episode was a compilation.