Kent Movie Map

Download your guide to the movie locations in Kent.

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The Film

The Other Boleyn Girl has been adapted for the screen from Philippa Gregory's best-selling novel and was shot on location in the UK during November and December 2006, with Kent in a starring role.

Alex Bailey (c) Universal Studios. All rights reserved.

The film follows the sumptuous tale of the beautiful sisters Anne and Mary Boleyn portrayed by Natalie Portman and Scarlett Johansson. The Boleyn girls are driven by their family's blind ambition to compete for the love of dashing King Henry VIII played by Eric Bana.

While both sisters share the king's bed, only Anne Boleyn ascends to the throne as queen - until her reign is cut short by the executioner's sword. The stormy royal romance alters the course of English history, and in Kent you'll find key locations where fact and fiction breathlessly merge.

Key Kent Film Locations

Knole has a shadowy edifice that was used to create the stone buildings of London in numerous sequences, while the inner courtyard doubled for Whitehall Palace for scenes depicting important arrivals and departures. Some of these scenes included:

Anne Boleyn (Natalie Portman) heading for exile in France,
Mary Boleyn (Scarlett Johansson) riding off in a carriage with her baby
Anne and Henry VIII leaving together on horse back, while Katherine watches from a window.

Penshurst Place was also used to recreate Whitehall Palace in the film with its beautiful Tudor gardens and magnificent Baron's Hall. The Hall most notably staged Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn's extravagant wedding feast.

Dover Castle assumed the role of the dreaded Tower of London. The Great Chamber on the first floor of the castle a historical place of entertainment for the king or high-ranking visitors - doubles in the film as the cell where Anne is held before she walks to the block.

While the Keep courtyard was the venue for Anne's execution. Scenes took three weeks to set up and were shot over five days, with the cold winter weather creating the perfect bleak mood for Anne Boleyn's tragic death.

Find out more about the film locations including first hand accounts from some Kent locals.

Although it was not used in the film, Hever Castle in Kent is the real-life home of the Boleyn family. In Gregory's novel, Mary Boleyn constantly yearns to escape from the pressures of London's court to be with her illegitimate royal children at this ‘fairytale palace' and to stroll the apple orchards of Kent.

If you are tempted to recreate your own The Other Boleyn Girl experience why not take a Boleyn break or follow one of Kent's movie trails.

Travelling to Kent

Kent is easy place to get to however you choose to travel. There are regular train services from London and southern England covering all the major towns. See www.southeasternrailway.co.uk

THE OTHER BOLEYN GIRL

OUT ON DVD JUNE 30

The Other Boleyn Girl is a Universal Pictures International, Columbia Pictures and a Ruby Films Scott Rudin production, in association with BBC Films and Relativity Media.