{"id":58910,"date":"2025-08-11T01:47:10","date_gmt":"2025-08-11T01:47:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/58910\/"},"modified":"2025-08-11T01:47:10","modified_gmt":"2025-08-11T01:47:10","slug":"prince-william-and-harry-will-never-inherit-princess-dianas-former-home-althorp","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/58910\/","title":{"rendered":"Prince William and harry will never inherit princess Diana’s former home Althorp"},"content":{"rendered":"

When Princess Diana<\/a> died on August 31, 1997, her estate was put into trust for her sons princes William and Harry<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But while its value later swelled to about AU$43 million, something the warring brothers will never inherit is their mother’s former family home.<\/p>\n

Diana famously spent her teens at Althorp, a heritage listed estate near the English town of Northampton, England, which is now owned by her brother Charles<\/a>, 9th Earl Spencer.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: Peter Phillips joins a long list of royals who’ve found love a second time round<\/a><\/p>\n

Louis Spencer will one day inherit Althorp. (Getty)<\/p>\n

A young Lady Diana Spencer moved there after her father inherited the vast 5300-hectare estate and title of Earl Spencer following the death of his father in 1975.<\/p>\n

\ufeffAfter his death in 1992, the estate passed to his only son, and Diana’s only brother, Charles, who became 9th Earl Spencer.<\/p>\n

Since then, Earl Spencer has been responsible for the estate, which is also Princess Diana’s final resting place.<\/p>\n

As is customary, on his death, it will one day pass to his own son, Louis, now known as Viscount Althorp.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: Catherine, Princess of Wales, no longer the most popular royal<\/a><\/p>\n

\"LadyCharles Spencer with his sister, Diana. (The Press Association Ltd.)<\/p>\n

\ufeffLouis is the youngest of Earl Spencer’s four children with his first wife, the former model Victoria Lockwood, who was known as Countess Spencer during their marriage.<\/p>\n

His three older sisters, Lady Kitty Spencer, and twins, Lady Eliza and Lady Amelia Spencer, were not in line to inherit Althorp due to male primogeniture rules which see sons inherit estates and titles over older female siblings.<\/p>\n

For a daily dose of 9honey, subscribe to our newsletter here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Louis Spencer, left, with sister Eliza, Kitty and Amelia, and their father Charles, 9th Earl Spencer. (PA Images via Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Male primogeniture was also in place within the British royal family until the Succession to the Crown Act was adopted in 2015, changing this practice for the first time.<\/p>\n

Despite changing times, Earl Spencer remains in favour of male primogeniture when it comes to Althorp if for no other reason but to keep it intact, citing example of great estates being stripped as part of the division of assets.<\/p>\n

Others have fallen into disrepair and many are run as businesses in order to pay for the upkeep.<\/p>\n

In the case of Althorp, it was said to be losing AU$2 million a year when he first inherited the estate, forcing him to cut staff and make other drastic changes, such as opening up the estate for two months each English summer and auctioning off numerous items.<\/p>\n

Still, he has himself voiced fears it may become too much for his son to handle one day, although \ufeffViscount Althorp’s eldest sister, Lady Kitty Spencer, has voiced her support for the system remaining in place, \ufeffand even given a vote of support to her brother.<\/p>\n

“We’ve grown up understanding that it’s Louis to inherit, and Louis will do an incredible job.”\ufeff (Instagram)<\/p>\n

She told Town & Country in 2021, “We’ve grown up understanding that it’s Louis to inherit, and Louis will do an incredible job.”\ufeff<\/p>\n

She previously told Tatler, “I like that the house stays within the same family, with the same surname.<\/p>\n

“I wouldn’t want it any other way for the Spencers. And I just know my brother is going to do an impeccable job.”<\/p>\n

\ufeffOf course, if the estate was ever sold or split up, one major thing to consider would be the fact it is the final resting place of Princess Diana, whose grave is located on an island within an ornamental lake, known as The Oval, which is only accessible via rowboat.<\/p>\n

\"CharlesThe vast Althorp estate. (Getty)<\/p>\n

A small temple is also located within the estate, close to The Oval, and visitors can view it when the estate is open to the public.<\/p>\n

FOLLOW US ON WHATSAPP HERE<\/a>: Stay across all the latest in celebrity, lifestyle and opinion via our WhatsApp channel. No comments, no algorithm and nobody can see your private details.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When Princess Diana died on August 31, 1997, her estate was put into trust for her sons princes…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":58911,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[64,63,447,134],"class_list":{"0":"post-58910","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-celebrities","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-celebrities","11":"tag-entertainment"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58910","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=58910"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58910\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/58911"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=58910"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=58910"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=58910"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}