Hugh Bonneville is used to playing Lord of the Manor in Downton Abbey, but the 48-year-old played butler to one lucky competition winner today during his visit to New Zealand.
Aucklander Megan Mills was out on a high tea at the Langham Hotel with her good friend Annette Taylor when none other the British acting veteran walked into the room to sit down at the table and started pouring the tea.
“Let’s be quite clear about this – I was the butler and I was serving them,” Hugh says with a laugh.
“I can’t believe he was serving me, ” says Megan, who adds that her jaw dropped to the floor when Hugh walked into the room.
“There was a small amount of debate about the tea preparations and it was explained that the milk goes in second otherwise you spoil the peculation, but we weren’t drinking our own special Downton tea blend,” jokes Hugh.
Megan (left) and Annette with Hugh
The high tea with Hugh was a surprise for Megan, who is a big fan of the hit British TV show. Megan’s husband, Clark, bought the outing for her as a graduation present for finishing her Masters degree in taxation studies. The prize was won in an auction on Trade Me for $2710 as part as a fundraising campaign for the Starship Children’s Hospital.
Prime and Sky TV paid for Hugh to visit the country. He and his wife Lulu were whisked away from the Emmy Awards in the US on Monday especially for the New Zealand trip, which saw him also visit Palmerston North to meet Downton fan Lauren Hutchinson at Palmerston North Girls’ High School.
“I’ve been sprinkling surprises about New Zealand,” says Hugh. “Great fun going to see Lauren at her high school, but next time it will be a vacation and I’ll be able to make more of it.
“It’s been great. It’s been all too short, but it’s been an excellent taster for a bigger trip to come when I can hopefully bring my son and we can do a bigger tour.”
Hugh hopes to return to New Zealand for a holiday with his son
Season three of the hit show is highly anticipated by Kiwi fans and Hugh’s visit has only escalated New Zealand’s Downton fever.
While in the country, Hugh was also able to explain an online rumour that Downton creator Julian Fellowes was currently writing a prequel to the show, which will explore how Hugh’s character, Robert, met his wife Cora.
“Rather than announcing he is doing a [prequel] series I think Julian is saying it is an area he would like to explore,” says Hugh.
“In the 19th Century, American heiresses brought a lot of cash into Britain and married into the aristocracy and the genesis of Downton was the idea of ‘What happened to those relationships?’
“I may be wrong and maybe [Julian] has finished writing 10 episodes of it, but I hope he finishes writing some more for us first,” he adds.
Although he thinks a prequel series would be a good idea, Hugh says he probably wouldn’t star in it.
“I couldn’t be in [a prequel series]. I’m a little too old to play myself 25 years ago.
“I could appear as a ghost from the future – that’s the only problem with that storyline.”
With the all the courtesy of his Downton character, when leaving the high tea, Hugh politely asked Megan, “Would you thank your husband very much for his great donation?”
For history-lover Megan – who occasionally dresses in Victorian-era costumes when she volunteers at the Victorian village at Auckland’s Museum of Transport and Technology (MOTAT) – the high tea was a dream come true.
“He’s a really charming man and he totally got into the spirit of that, chatting like we were good friends. It was really, really nice – I’m just amazed.”
Andrea Newland from The Starship Foundation says they are hugely thankful to Sky, Prime and Hugh Bonneville for donating to this amazing auction. For more Spring Clean fundraiser auctions visit, trademe.co.nz/stores/starship
Downton Abbey returns to Prime on Thursday October 18 at 8.30pm
Related stories
Native ad body.
Native ad body.
Native ad body.
