「ダウントン・アビー」の城館に世界のファン集結、映画公開を前に

【ハイクレアＡＦＰ＝時事】英人気テレビドラマ「ダウントン・アビー」の映画版公開を控える中、羽根飾りの付いた帽子や三つぞろいのスーツなど、1920年代のファッションに身を包んだファンたちが世界各地からロケ地であるハイクレア城に集まった。（写真は英バークシャー州で、「ダウントン・アビー」の舞台となったハイクレア城で開かれた1920年代をテーマにしたイベントに参加するファンたち）
　１９１２年に起きた豪華客船タイタニック号の沈没で幕を開け、１９２５年後半までを描いた「ダウントン・アビー」の放映により、館を訪れる観光客数は年間９万人へと２倍超に膨れ上がった。
　空前の人気を誇ったテレビドラマの世界を大きなスクリーンで楽しめる映画版は、ロンドンのレスタースクエアで９日にプレミア上映が行われた後、１３日に英国で公開されるのを皮切りに、世界各地で順次公開される。映画版は１９２７年の設定で、英国王ジョージ５世とメアリー王妃の訪問を待ち受けるクローリー家が描かれる。
　映画公開を控えた今週末、英バークシャー州にあるハイクレア城では、映画制作会社が主催する特別イベントが開かれた。米カリフォルニア州から訪れた７０歳のファンは、館内の部屋や廊下を称賛し、「以前から自分がいたところみたいに身近に感じる」と語った。
　英国に留学中という２５歳の中国人の女性ファンは、中国でも自分たちの年代なら「ダウントン・アビー」は誰もが知っていると語った。
　■現在はカナーボン伯爵夫妻の居城
　クローリー家の邸宅として登場した１９世紀の館ハイクレア城には現在、８代目カナーボン伯爵であるジョージ・ハーバート氏とフィオナ伯爵夫人が暮らしている。
　ＡＦＰの取材に応じた同伯爵によれば、部屋数が約２００もある館とヒツジが約３０００頭もいる敷地の維持には、詳細を明らかにしなかったものの莫大（ばくだい）な費用がかかるそうだ。以前は料理人１６人、庭師２０人を雇っていたが、現在はそれぞれ４人だという。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2019/09/09-09:16）

Bedecked in 1920s dresses, feathered hats and three-piece suits, visitors from across the world have flocked to England's Highclere Castle, scene of the Downton Abbey smash TV drama -- and now, at last, a film.
The majestic setting of one of the most popular TV series ever made will appear on the big screen when the very first Downton Abbey movie opens in Britain on Friday, and globally later this month.
Winner of dozens of awards since its UK debut in 2010, the period drama about early 20th century aristocrats has mesmerised Yifan Gao, a Chinese student attending university in Scotland.
Everyone our age knows Downtown Abbey in China, the 25-year-old said, posing for a photograph in a vintage dress, a glamorous necklace draped around her neck.
It's charming, she said after taking a six-hour train ride from Edinburgh with two friends to attend a special weekend at the castle organised by producers of the film.
I used that series to practise my English.
Boasting 200 rooms, four chefs and four gardeners, the 19th-century estate is now home to George Herbert, 8th Earl of Carnarvon, and Lady Fiona Carnarvon, his wife.
The running costs of the estate, which also includes 3,000 sheep, are huge, the earl tells AFP, without going into specifics.
Before the TV series stopped production in 2015, there were even more people working there, 20 gardeners, 16 people in the kitchen, he said.
- 'Obsessed with the English' -
The number of visitors to the castle has more than doubled to 90,000 people a year thanks to the series, whose tale began with the sinking of the Titanic in 1912 and ended in late 1925.
The film, which officially premieres at London's Leicester Square on Monday, picks up the plot in 1927, with the Crawley family anxiously awaiting a visit from King George V and Queen Mary.
The castle got all dressed up for the occasion as well, throwing open its doors to fans and filling its driveways with immaculately kept antique cars.
Its sweeping oak staircase and airy rooms decorated with paintings, warmed by fireplaces and attended by servants in period clothes, the castle almost felt like home to especially devout admirers of the shows.
It felt so familiar, like I have been there before, Daniel Bissler, a 70-year-old Californian dressed in a sky-blue and white striped suit and bow tie the colours of the Union Jack, said after admiring the various rooms and hallways.
It really captures a very special time in England, when the working class, women, were fighting for their rights, added Shayane Lacey, a 24-year-old Londoner who came with her mother Roya, 54.
Emily Dickmann from Chicago said she felt almost emotional after stepping inside the bedroom of Lady Sybil, one of the heroines of the show.
I think we Americans are obsessed with the English. We don't have lords and ladies, that long history, and it is kind of fascinating for us, she said.