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IT'S a real case of role reversal for Downton Abbey maid Rose Leslie ... she was brought up in a castle.

Rose - housemaid Gwen in ITV's hit period drama - lived with her blue-blood parents in Lickleyhead Castle, near Aberdeen.

It's been their family home for more than 500 years.

But the actress swapped upstairs for downstairs when she signed up for Downton.

And now she's set for another big switch - jetting to Hollywood after landing a part as a warrior woman in HBO's medieval fantasy drama Game Of Thrones.

Yesterday, Rose's mum Candy Leslie said: "We are delighted for her - her career is going from strength to strength.



"I am very proud of her. She has worked very hard and we are pleased for her."

The 24-year-old - born Rose Eleanor Arbuthnot-Leslie - spent her early years in the 15th century pile, set in 30 acres of forests and gardens.

The turreted stronghold has seven bedrooms, a great hall, a drawing room with a huge log fire and a wood-panelled dining room. Her parents rent it out for weddings and holiday lets.

Rose is the middle of five children and went to the local primary school in Rayne before she went to Millfield, a co-ed public school in England, and on to the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art.

Candy said: "She was always keen on drama, messing about with her sisters, but so do lots of girls.

"But she did not do any stage productions until she went to Millfield, where they have a really excellent drama department.



"She was there for five years before she was offered a place at LAMDA."

Rosie left the drama college after three years with an honours degree.

She appeared in a TV documentary before landing the role of Rhian in the TV film New Town a year after graduating.

That role earned her a Scottish Bafta for best acting by a new talent. She has also appeared on stage at the Globe Theatre in London in the play Bedlam.

In Downton, Rose plays Gwen, the ambitious daughter of a farm worker. She is the natural rebel among the female household servants.

She appeared in all seven episodes of the first series - which recently won four Emmys in America and returned for the second.

In Game Of Thrones - broadcast on Sky - she will play the "wildling" Ygritte.

The character is strong-willed, witty and skilled in battle and survival in the wilderness.

Ygritte is an unconventional beauty, skinny but strong, with red hair.