- - The Real Reason Prince Harry and Prince William Won't Inherit Princess Diana’s Childhood Home

Stephanie PetitJuly 26, 2025 at 1:00 AM

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Prince William and Prince Harry on July 1, 2021

When Princess Diana tragically died in 1997, many of her possessions, jewelry and money went to her sons, Prince William and Prince Harry. However, the two brothers won't inherit the home where Diana grew up and which now serves as her final resting place.

Diana's father inherited the title of Earl Spencer in 1975, and the family moved to the Althorp estate in Northamptonshire, the ancestral home of the Spencer family since 1508. The property, spanning 13,000 acres, is now under the care of the current Earl Spencer — Princess Diana's brother, Charles — and after his death, it will pass on to the next Earl Spencer: his son, Louis, Viscount Althorp.

Although Louis has three older sisters — Lady Kitty, Lady Eliza and Lady Amelia — they follow primogeniture, which dictates that the eldest male in a family inherits titles and property.

Charles told the Mail on Sunday in 2015 that he would be "totally relaxed" about his eldest child, Kitty, inheriting Althorp. However, "If I chose Kitty, it would be against all the tradition that goes with Althorp. It's just the way it is. I get the problems with it as a concept. I also get the strengths of it having worked to date."

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Lady Eliza Spencer, Louis Spencer, Viscount Althorp, Victoria Lockwood and Lady Kitty Spencer on May 19, 2018

In the December 2015 issue of Tatler, Kitty said, "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."

“I like that the house stays within the same family, with the same surname,” she continued. “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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Althorp House

Princess Diana, who died in a Paris car crash in 1997 at age 36, is buried on the Althorp estate. Her grave is located on a small island in the middle of the property’s Oval Lake and is not accessible to the public. Charles wrote in his book that its remoteness was intentional, with the lake “[acting] as a buffer against the interventions of the insane and ghoulish, the thick mud presenting a further line of defense.”

Charles has said it brings him comfort to know that Prince William and Prince Harry are able to visit their mother's burial place privately.

“I think it’s very important for them to be there with her,” he once 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."

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Princess Diana's burial site at Althorp

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Although visitors to Althorp can't visit Diana's burial site, they can pay their respects at a memorial in her honor.

Prince Harry wrote in his 2023 memoir, Spare, about visiting the site on the 25th anniversary of Diana’s death in 2022, bringing his wife, Meghan Markle, for the first time.

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As they took a boat across the lake, Prince Harry said he "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 Harry said the visit was admittedly not “easy,” he expressed his desire to share his mother’s final resting place with Meghan, writing, “At long last, I was bringing the girl of my dreams home to meet mum.”

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Prince William, Princess Diana and Prince Harry in 1995

Prince Harry also said that the money left to him from Princess Diana helped him and Meghan move to California after they stepped back from their royal roles in 2020.

"I brought what my mom left me," he said in the couple's 2021 sit-down with Oprah Winfrey. "And without that, we would not have been able to do this, so touching back on what my mother would think of this, I think she saw it coming. I certainly felt her presence throughout this whole process."

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