In another image, the Duke and Duchess are walking down one of Althorp’s avenues in the summer sun, with Prince Archie, 7, and Princess Lillibet, 5, by their side. The children can be seen carrying beautiful bouquets of flowers, suggesting that the family may have visited Princess Diana’s grave, which lies at the centre of the Oval Lake on the Althorp estate and is deliberately inaccessible to the public.
Explaining the location of his sister’s final resting place in a book, Earl Spencer described the lake as ‘a buffer against the interventions of the insane and ghoulish, the thick mud presenting a further line of defence.’
It would not be the first time that Prince Harry brought his wife to visit his mother’s grave. In his autobiography, Spare, the Duke of Sussex recounts taking a boat across the lake with Meghan on the 25th anniversary of Princess Diana’s death. ‘I led Meg up the path, around a hedge, through the labyrinth. There it was, looming: the greyish white oval stone. No visit to this place was ever easy, but this one… Twenty-fifth anniversary. And Meg’s first time. At long last I was bringing the girl of my dreams home to meet mum,’ he wrote.
He continued: ‘We hesitated, hugging, and then I went first. I placed flowers on the grave. Meg gave me a moment, and I spoke to my mother in my head, told her I missed her, asked her for guidance and clarity. Feeling that Meg might also want a moment, I went around the hedge, scanned the pond. When I came back, Meg was kneeling, eyes shut, palms against the stone. I asked, as we walked back to the boat, what she’d prayed for. “Clarity,” she said. “And guidance.”’