Over a decade in the making, A Royal Grand Design tells the story of a King with an incredibly ambitious plan to save an 18th Century stately home in the most rundown area of the UK and turn it into a self-sufficient gem which would help to regenerate the local community.
When HRH took on the house, it was, in his own words ‘an appalling risk’. He led a consortium that paid £45m for the dilapidated estate. Now, this hour-long special provides an insight into the Prince’s commitment and passion for this Royal Grand Design.
The King tells the programme: “I knew if we hadn’t stepped in and saved it, somebody would have bought it and said they had a great idea, you know for golf courses and things and it would never have worked, so, it would have joined the list of yet more derelict country houses."
In the programme, King Charles says he was adamant about trying to make a difference in the local area where unemployment was at an all-time low.
"I wanted to try and make a difference. I'm one of those people who likes taking on the most difficult challenges and I felt it was worth taking this appalling risk and taking out such a big loan.
“The buildings we’ve built, a lot of them have been done by students, live build, learning. 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 STEM educational side and the vocational side in order to make this area as a great example of how you can create new businesses and jobs in the green economy.”
The film, narrated by Richard E. Grant, tells the history of Dumfries House and its 2000 acre estate and how it came to be for sale.
His Royal Highness talks about the historic furniture that was going to be sold separately at auction and how some of it was stopped in a van on the motorway and taken back to the estate once he had decided to buy the house.
The restoration of Dumfries House was a huge project for The Prince’s Foundation and expert restorers reveal how they saved individual pieces of antique furniture, including a priceless Chippendale bookcase, by hand.
In the programme, the Prince says: “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.”
As well as restoring the main house, The King's vision was to bring the estate back to life and instil hope and pride to the surrounding area through heritage-led regeneration and sustainability.
The King is seen helping the lead garden designer plant trees in the walled garden and they each give details of their visions, plans and drawings.
As the restoration nears completion, members of the public are allowed through the doors and the programme follows as they are led on tours of the house whilst members of staff talk about how happy they are to be working there.
Finally, as the walled garden and outdoor centre are completed, HRH gets to show his mother, Queen Elizabeth II and his son, The Duke of Cambridge, around.
The Prince says: “It’s what you can do for the community with the house and the estate…It’s got the wonderful teaching garden which makes a huge difference to local people. We get the children in to learn about food and where it comes from and help them to grow it.
“I wanted to rescue the house, because it is of such importance, I knew it was a very deprived area 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.”
A Royal Grand Design is on tonight at 9pm on ITV1
