In 1927 the Crawley family receive word that King George V (Jones) and Queen Mary (James) intend to visit Downton during their royal tour of Yorkshire, exciting both the family and the staff at such a rare and grand event. As the staff prepares, Lady Mary (Dockery) deduces that Barrow (James-Collier) is ill equipped to manage such an important event for the estate and so she recruits Carson (Carter) to briefly exit retirement in order to assist, much to Barrow’s chagrin. Shortly thereafter, members of the royal staff begin to arrive at Downton in advance of the King and Queen themselves. While Mr. Ellis (Brown), the King’s valet, treats the Downton staff kindly, the rest of the entourage are arrogant and rude, making it clear that the royal staff intend to supplant that of Downton’s for the duration of the visit.
Lord and Lady Hexham (Hadden-Paton and Carmichael) arrive the day before the royals are due to arrive. Later that evening the chairs for the parade seating arrive during heavy rain, and Lady Mary leads a messy group effort to position the chairs for the next day. The weather clears and the King and Queen arrive to Downton’s reception, where they are introduced to the whole Crawley family. The Dowager Violet (Smith) exchanges cold pleasantries with the Queen’s lady-in-waiting Maud (Staunton), who is Robert’s (Bonneville) first cousin once removed, and Tom (Leech) is introduced to her maid Lucy Smith (Middleton). Violet begrudges Maud for her decision to bequeath her estate, Brompton, to Lucy rather than Robert.