'Queen Charlotte' Crew Was Forbidden from Touching Beds in Historic Filming Locations, Plus More On-Set Secrets

Filming inside aristocratic estates came with a few very specific restrictions for the Bridgerton prequel, production designer David Ingram tells PEOPLE

This story contains spoilers for Queen Charlotte.

The cast and crew of Queen Charlotte followed many rules while filming inside some of England's most precious historic estates, but one in particular was especially pertinent to the spicy series.

For the first season of the Bridgerton prequel, now streaming on Netflix, the show runners shot at a number of important homes. Blenheim Palace became Buckingham House (the precursor to Buckingham Palace), where Queen Charlotte and King George live; Belton House became Kew Palace, George's reclusive hideaway; and Hampton Court reprised its role as St. James Palace.

But with access to these remarkable properties comes a slew of restrictions for the safety of the building and the priceless items within. And for a show associated with Bridgerton, special attention was paid to just how the show's many elaborate sex scenes would be handled, David Ingram, the Netflix prequel's production designer, tells PEOPLE.

Related:'Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story' : What's Fact and What's Fiction

"In a lot of these stately homes, you can't have the intimacy scenes in the beds. You can't touch the beds. You can't move the beds," explains Ingram, but "being a Bridgerton story, there's a lot of intimacy."

As a result, despite a majority of the show being filmed on location, many of the bedroom scenes had to be shot in reconstructions of the spaces at a nearby studio. "We were building bedroom scenes and back-of-the-house sets on the [sound]stage," says Ingram.

Matching the Sets

And it wasn't just the show's infamous intimacy that required extra care.

George's bedroom also had to be done on a set off site because, "We had to draw on the walls as he went a little bit mad with his obsession with Venus and astronomy," says Ingram. That of course wouldn't fly at the historic Belton House.

When the crew built George's bedroom set they had to perfectly match Belton's rich walnut paneling and other architectural features so that viewers wouldn't be aware of the change of location when scenes cut back and forth.

Subbing Locations

Access to Blenheim Palace was limited, so Ingram says they "cheat" many of the interior scenes set at Buckhingham with other interiors that allowed them a little more flexibility and time.

"We knew we wanted Blenheim [in the show], and it was like, 'What's the least amount that we can shoot there, so we can get the exposure of Blenheim and then cheat it on the stage?'" explains Ingram.

The Buckingham's orangery, for example, is actually part of Belton House. The crew even built George's beloved vegetable garden, which is supposed to be at Buckingham, on the grounds of Belton. "We really asked a lot of them. We were there for two and a half weeks running," says Ingram. "We were very lucky how supportive they were."

Faking the Furniture

Anything of historical importance or great value that was already inside the homes had to be carefully removed or entirely avoided during filming. And because of George's habit of sweeping things off surfaces to make way for his queen, rather than use real antiques, most of the furniture featured was built for the show.

"Most of the time we do build from scratch. It means that we can make pieces lightweight and we can build them in a way that it protects the floors and it's being sensitive to these historical places," says Ingram.

Tracking Bridgerton Crossover

Queen Charlotte also features scenes set decades later during Bridgerton's timeline, with an older version of Charlotte, George and Lady Danbury, as well as Violet Bridgerton from the original series turning up.

Because of this, the crew for the sequel couldn't repurpose or alter any existing Bridgerton sets. And when shooting the older characters in Buckingham House, they had to match the original show's design — down to the tea service.

"We made sure that we used their dressing and all their props, their teacups and saucers," explains Ingram. "We had to stay very, very strict so we could intercut with contemporary Bridgerton. We had one of their people from their team that could tell us if we were correct."

One familiar Bridgerton fixture also makes it into Queen Charlotte in another way. The purple flowering vine that became a regular motif in the original show is also in the first episode of the new one. As eagle-eyed fans no doubt noticed: the plant Charlotte attempts to scale in order to jump over the garden wall ahead of her wedding is wisteria.

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