London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Tuesday, Oct 07, 2025

'Downton Abbey' castle halts weddings due to Brexit, says owner

'Downton Abbey' castle halts weddings due to Brexit, says owner

It is a problem the butler of "Downton Abbey" might have sympathised with.

Highclere Castle in southern England, where the early 20th century period drama about the lives of aristocrats and their servants was filmed, is facing a serious staffing crunch.

The reason is the dearth of workers from the European Union, which has forced owner Fiona Carnarvon to mothball the castle's main business of hosting larger weddings on the site of the Emmy- and Golden Globe-winning show.

"We have stopped being able to offer any weddings of any substantial size because of Brexit," Carnarvon, a countess who owns Highclere with her husband, the eighth Earl of Carnarvon, said.

"There are no staff," she said, speaking from the morning room at the Victorian castle that sits on a 5,000-acre estate.

It used to host around 25 weddings with more than 100 guests a season. Weddings with around 20 guests are still possible, but are a much smaller part of a business that the owners say can cost several thousands of pounds a day to run.

Revenues from other parts of Highclere's business such as its gift shop - the house opens to the public during the summer months - have also fallen, which Carnarvon says reflects not just Brexit but also the hit to the hospitality industry from COVID-19 and the cost-of-living crisis.

Its staffing challenges in particular illustrate the still-unfolding impacts of Brexit on Britain's labour market three years after the UK's departure from the European Union, its biggest trading partner.

A vital workforce of EU students attending university in Britain who were available to work during weddings is no longer available, said Carnarvon.

"When we go to our usual agencies and try to find people, they are not there," she said. "If we asked for 10, three might turn up ... there's nobody we haven't asked."

The number of EU students admitted to British universities fell 50% in 2021, and applications dropped 40%, partly due to uncertainty created by Brexit, university admissions service UCAS said last year.

Since leaving the European Union, Britain has faced worker shortages at various stages in areas such as manufacturing, construction and logistics.

With Britain still boasting higher rates of employment and lower unemployment than most EU countries, business groups have pushed the government to relax post-Brexit immigration rules.

Britain has relaxed the eligibility rules for work visas in a range of professions but the list does not include the hospitality sector.

Its Brexit-supporting Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has also pushed back against calls from businesses to liberalise immigration to address labour shortages, saying withdrawal from the bloc had helped bring more flexibility on business regulation and secure "proper control" of the country's borders.


'WRAPPED IN RED TAPE'


Just outside Highclere Castle, in the grounds designed by 18th century landscape architect Capability Brown, dozens of chairs and a few tables lie stacked and unused.

They will remain unused during the spring, too, as Highclere has closed afternoon teas it offered to the public, said Carnarvon, due to the lack of staff.

Highclere's gift shop has also stopped shipping to EU countries -- about a third of the shop's overall business -- because of increased courier costs and paperwork in the aftermath of the EU departure, Carnarvon said.

Other trade from the Highclere estate, such as the export of horse feeds, has also fallen due to high paperwork and legal fees, she added.

"We are wrapped in red tape now in every piece of our business," she said.

Weighed down by falling revenues and higher costs amid double-digit inflation, Highclere expects to just about break even this year, compared to profitable years prior to Brexit and the pandemic, Carnarvon said. Weddings made up 40% of the overall business at its height.

In some ways, the fortunes of Highclere Castle mirror the cutbacks to "Downton Abbey", which the show depicts as losing a number of staff over the years, especially as World War One depletes the influence of the English aristocracy.

But while weddings have declined, Carnarvon, is optimistic about new streams of revenue, such as a 35 pounds ($42) a bottle gin, which she says is gaining traction in the United States.

"It's beginning, its nascent, but it's a business which using our brand, can generate revenue to support us, hopefully, in the future," she said.

($1 = 0.8293 pounds)

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Three Scientists Awarded Nobel Prize in Medicine for Discovery of Immune Self-Tolerance Mechanism
OpenAI and AMD Forge Landmark AI-Chip Alliance with Equity Option
Munich Airport Reopens After Second Drone Shutdown
France Names New Government Amid Political Crisis
Trump Stands Firm in Shutdown Showdown and Declares War on Drug Cartels — Turning Crisis into Opportunity
Surge of U.S. Billionaires Transforms London’s Peninsula Apartments into Ultra-Luxury Stronghold
Pro Europe and Anti-War Babiš Poised to Return to Power After Czech Parliamentary Vote
Jeff Bezos Calls AI Surge a ‘Good’ Bubble, Urges Focus on Lasting Innovation
Japan’s Ruling Party Chooses Sanae Takaichi, Clearing Path to First Female Prime Minister
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Sentenced to Fifty Months in Prison Following Prostitution Conviction
Taylor Swift’s ‘Showgirl’ Launch Extends Billion-Dollar Empire
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
FBI Removes Agents Who Kneeled at 2020 Protest, Citing Breach of Professional Conduct
Trump Alleges ‘Triple Sabotage’ at United Nations After Escalator and Teleprompter Failures
Shock in France: 5 Years in Prison for Former President Nicolas Sarkozy
Tokyo’s Jimbōchō Named World’s Coolest Neighbourhood for 2025
European Officials Fear Trump May Shift Blame for Ukraine War onto EU
BNP Paribas Abandons Ban on 'Controversial Weapons' Financing Amid Europe’s Defence Push
Typhoon Ragasa Leaves Trail of Destruction Across East Asia Before Making Landfall in China
The Personality Rights Challenge in India’s AI Era
Big Banks Rebuild in Hong Kong as Deal Volume Surges
Italy Considers Freezing Retirement Age at 67 to Avert Scheduled Hike
Italian City to Impose Tax on Visiting Dogs Starting in 2026
Arnault Denounces Proposed Wealth Tax as Threat to French Economy
Study Finds No Safe Level of Alcohol for Dementia Risk
Denmark Investigates Drone Incursion, Does Not Rule Out Russian Involvement
Lilly CEO Warns UK Is ‘Worst Country in Europe’ for Drug Prices, Pulls Back Investment
Nigel Farage Emerges as Central Force in British Politics with Reform UK Surge
×