Why Prince William and Prince Harry won't inherit Princess Diana's childhood home
Prince William and Prince Harry won't inherit the childhood home of their mother, Princess Diana.
Diana died in a car crash in 1997 at 36 years old, leaving many possessions, jewelry, and money to her sons. But the Althorp estate in Northamptonshire isn't among them, according to People.
The 13,000-acre estate is the ancestral home of the Spencer family, Diana's forebears, since 1508. Her father's family moved there in 1975 upon earning the title of Earl Spencer.
To date, the Althorp estate is under the care of the current Earl Spencer, Diana's brother Charles, who is also an author and broadcast journalist.
After Charles's death, his son, Louis, Viscount Althorp, will inherit the property.
Though Louis has three older sisters—Lady Kitty, Lady Eliza, and Lady Amelia—they observe primogeniture, in which the eldest male in the family inherits titles and property.
In a 2015 interview with The Mail, Charles said he is "totally relaxed" if Kitty would inherit Althorp. It's just that "it would be against all the tradition."
"It's just the way it is," he is quoted as saying. "I get the problems with it as a concept. I also get the strengths of it, having worked to date."
In the same year, Kitty told Tatler that while she's "totally pro-gender equality," she's "quite happy" that it's Louis's "responsibility" to have the property.
"I just think it’s the correct way," she said. "I like that the house stays within the same family, with the same surname. I wouldn’t want it any other way for the Spencers. And I just know my brother is going to do an impeccable job."
Diana is buried on the Althorp estate, on a small island in the middle of its Oval Lake. It isn't accessible to the public.
Charles previously said that the location's remoteness was intentional, and the lake acts "as a buffer against the interventions of the insane and ghoulish, the thick mud presenting a further line of defense.”
In a previous interview with People, he said it brings him comfort to know that his nephews William and Harry can visit their mother's resting place privately.
“It is, luckily, very tranquil here, and they can come and go as they wish whenever they want. And that’s very lovely for me to know that," he said.
In his 2023 memoir, Spare, Harry recounted visiting Princess Diana's burial site with his wife, Meghan Markle, on the 25th anniversary of her death.
Harry said they took a boat across the lake and "gazed around at Althorp's rolling fields and ancient trees, the thousands of green acres where my mother grew up, and where, though things weren't perfect, she'd known some peace."
Though it was not "easy," Harry expressed comfort that he was able to visit his mother with Meghan, writing, “At long last, I was bringing the girl of my dreams home to meet mum.”
