Hopetoun House

Summary

A Category A listed Baroque country house near South Queensferry in West Lothian, Scotland, designed by Sir William Bruce from 1699 and enlarged by William Adam and his sons from 1721, seat of the Marquesses of Linlithgow, used as a filming location for Outlander (Starz, 2014 to 2017), Belgravia (ITV, 2020), and The Princess Switch: Switched Again (Netflix, 2020).

About this location

Hopetoun House stands near South Queensferry, overlooking the Firth of Forth in West Lothian, Scotland. It is among the most important Baroque country houses in Scotland. The original house was designed by Sir William Bruce from 1699, and the building of this phase was completed by 1707. In 1721, William Adam — father of the neoclassical architect Robert Adam — began a major enlargement of the house, extending the wings and creating the grand curved colonnaded entrance front. After William Adam’s death in 1748, the project was continued by his sons John and Robert Adam, who completed the enlargement and decorated many of the principal rooms. The colonnaded screen on the south front, with its curving arms reaching forward to embrace a forecourt, is considered one of the grandest architectural gestures in Scotland. The main rooms contain a substantial collection of paintings, furniture and tapestries accumulated by the Hope family and their successors the Marquesses of Linlithgow over three centuries.

The house is set within 100 acres of formal and parkland, with garden terraces, a deer park, and views extending to the Firth of Forth and the bridges. The estate is managed by the Hopetoun House Preservation Trust, which was established in 1974 to ensure the long-term conservation of the property and its contents.

Outlander (Starz, 2014 onwards, produced by Sony Pictures Television, based on Diana Gabaldon’s novels) used Hopetoun House in Seasons 1, 2 and 3 as the Duke of Sandringham’s home, re-dressed to represent locations in Scotland, England and Paris. Belgravia (ITV, 2020, written by Julian Fellowes, starring Philip Glenister and Tamsin Greig) filmed scenes at Hopetoun House. The Princess Switch: Switched Again (Netflix, 2020, directed by Mike Rohl, starring Vanessa Hudgens) used the south front as the exterior of the fictional Montenaro Royal Palace.