Prince William and Prince Harry Won’t Inherit Princess Diana’s Childhood Home, Where She Is Buried—Here’s Who Will

Rachel BurchfieldFri, September 25, 2026 at 12:25 PM UTC

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Prince William and Prince Harry arrive to view floral tributes to Queen Elizabeth II laid outside Cambridge Gate at Windsor Castle on 10th September 2022 in Windsor, United Kingdom.Credit: Getty ImagesThe Gist -

Althorp in Northamptonshire has been the Spencer family’s estate for more than 500 years.

It serves as Princess Diana’s childhood home and final resting place.

Though her sons Prince William and Prince Harry can visit their mother’s gravesite “whenever they want,” they are not in line to inherit the family home.

Princess Diana lived at Althorp in Northamptonshire from the age of 14, when her father, John Spencer, became the 8th Earl of Spencer and inherited the ancestral home, which had been in the family for more than 500 years.

Despite Althorp’s deep meaning to the late Princess of Wales, her sons, Prince William and Prince Harry, will never inherit the property. While the Prince of Wales and the Duke of Sussex are able to visit their mother’s gravesite whenever they wish, neither will inherit the property. The estate is currently owned by Diana’s younger brother, Charles Spencer, the current Earl Spencer.

Princess Diana in 1996

Louis, Viscount Althorp, will become Earl Spencer following his father’s death and thus inherit the estate. The same can be said about the famous Spencer tiara—worth more than $500,000 and worn by Diana during her July 29, 1981 wedding to Prince Charles. The Spencer family owns the crown and will one day also go to Louis.

Following her death on August 31, 1997, during a Paris car accident, Althorp became Diana’s final resting place. The late princess is buried on a private island only accessible by boat on the property. Charles Spencer wrote in his book Althorp: The Story of an English House that, when it comes to his sister’s burial site, “its remoteness is entirely intentional.”

Althorp, the Spencer family ancestral homeCredit: Getty

Althorp has been in the Spencer family since 1508, according to People, and spans 13,000 acres. While Charles told The Mail on Sunday in 2015 that he would be “totally relaxed” about his eldest child, Lady Kitty Spencer, inheriting the property, he said, “If I chose Kitty, it would be against all the tradition that goes with Althorp. It’s just the way it is. I also get the strengths of it having worked to date.”

Charles inherited Althorp from his own father, Earl Johnnie Spencer. Charles has three older sisters—Sarah, Jane, and Diana—but it was he who inherited the family home; like his father, Louis also has three older sisters, Kitty, as well as twins Lady Amelia Spencer and Lady Eliza Spencer, but it will be the son who takes over someday. For her part, Kitty—the eldest child—told Tatler in 2015, “I’m totally pro-gender equality. But I’m quite happy that that’s [going to be] my brother’s responsibility. I just think it’s the correct way.”

Althorp, the Spencer family ancestral homeCredit: Getty

“I like that the house stays within the same family, with the same surname,” Kitty added. “I wouldn’t want it any other way for the Spencers. And I just know my brother is going to do an impeccable job.”

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After Diana died, Charles decided to bury his sister on Oval Island in the middle of Oval Lake, a remote location chosen because “There was such a whipped up feeling of emotion everywhere that I was very worried about where we could safely bury her,” Spencer told the BBC.

The burial site of Princess DianaCredit: Getty

A memorial to Princess Diana at AlthorpCredit: Getty

In his book, Charles wrote that Oval Lake serves as “a buffer against the interventions of the insane and ghoulish, the thick mud presenting a further line of defense.” Charles visits his sister’s gravesite “pretty much every day,” he previously told Good Morning Britain.

After Diana’s death—29 years ago—Charles said it was important to him that his nephews William and Harry could visit their mother in peace and privacy: “I think it’s very important for them to be there with her,” he told People. “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.”

Aerial view of the island where Princess Diana was laid to restCredit: Getty

Charles also wrote a book dedicated to his late sister, entitled Swan Song: Diana, My Sister, which he calls “a brother’s simple tribute to an extraordinary sister.” The book is set to come out on September 22, 2026.

After Diana’s divorce from Prince Charles was finalized in 1996, “Diana had a lovely dream that she could live a normal life afterward,” her brother said. “But the one house that she set her heart on in the park [at Althorp] was three bedrooms and 100 yards from the road. And it was just not possible. The police knew it wouldn’t work. I offered every other property that was suitable on the estate. I really felt it was the right decision for her. But she probably couldn’t see it.”

Princess Diana, Prince Harry, and Prince WilliamCredit: Getty

Just 368 days after her divorce from the Prince of Wales was finalized on August 28, 1996, Diana was gone. Ultimately, she did get her wish of ending up at Althorp—though certainly in a different manner than she could have ever imagined. She was laid to rest within Althorp’s Pleasure Gardens, and “She’s in a happy and secure place,” her brother told People.

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