Inside Princess Diana's 90-room childhood home

The fascinating story of Diana's ancient family seat

Althorp House is probably best known for being the childhood home and final resting place of Diana, Princess of Wales.

However, the Spencer family has called the estate home for more than 500 years and it has been the family seat to 19 generations of the Spencer line. What stories lie inside its walls?

Join us as we explore the secrets of a family home steeped in history...

Meet the earl at Althorp

Charles Edward Maurice Spencer, the 9th Earl Spencer, is a British peer, author, journalist, and broadcaster, best known as the younger brother of Diana, Princess of Wales, and the maternal uncle of William, Prince of Wales and Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex.

Formerly known as Viscount, he inherited the title and Althorp House in Northamptonshire following the death of his father Earl John Spencer in 1992. Althorp, the ancestral seat of the Spencer family for over 500 years, boasts an extraordinary collection of fine art, furniture and ceramics, as well as exquisitely preserved interiors, offering a glimpse into centuries of family history.

But where did it all begin?

Althorp: 1,000 years of history

First mentioned in the 11th-century Domesday Book as ‘Olletorp’, Althorp started life as a small village, around six miles north of the town of Northampton in the English county of Northamptonshire.

With a tiny population of around 50 people in the early 14th century, the vast estate we see today has come a long way from its humble beginnings.

The beginnings of Althorp

By the early 15th century, the village of Althorp was almost deserted, and the acreage up for grabs. Sir John Spencer, who grazed sheep in the village, eventually bought up the land in 1508 and built Althorp House using funds from his sheep farming business.

The sale was estimated to be worth around £800 ($1k) at the time, which is around £762,000 ($968k) in today’s money.

Passed down through generations

After years of living and working on the estate, Spencer died in 1522. He left Althorp to his youngest son, Sir William Spencer.

The property was passed down through the Spencer line when, in the early 17th century, William’s great-grandson Robert inherited the property.

Sir Robert (pictured) was made the first Baron Spencer of Wormleighton, a village in Warwickshire, England, and was reputed to be one of the richest men in England at the time.

Expanding Althorp

After passing through another generation of the Spencer family, in 1669, Althorp made its way into the hands of Robert Spencer, 2nd Earl of Sunderland, who was only an infant at the time.

When he was old enough, Robert started work on the estate, rebuilding the manor and making several changes to the vast property. The grand main house is pictured here in 1677 before renovations took place. You can see the vast empty fields surrounding the house, which are all part of a cultivated estate today.

A hub of high society

By the mid-1700s, Althorp was owned by John, 1st Earl Spencer, and his wife, Georgiana Poyntz. It was during John's ownership that Althorp is said to have really come to life.

During the Christmas of 1755, the young John Spencer threw a grand party at the house to celebrate his 21st birthday. According to legend, while the ball was in full swing, he and 18-year-old Georgiana married in secret.

John was apparently taken with Georgiana from the moment he saw her. She clearly felt the same, writing to her friend Thea Cowper: “Since I was born, I never saw anything so charming as he is."

Extravagant festivities

John hosted many parties at Althorp, and the grand estate soon became well-known as a hub for extravagant soirées and festivities.

Georgiana Spencer, the Earl's first daughter, was also born at Althorp in 1757. The great-great-great-great-aunt of Princess Diana, she eventually became the Duchess of Devonshire and a notable English socialite.

She was perhaps most famously portrayed by Keira Knightly in the film The Duchess.

The Spencer Library at Althorp

When John Spencer passed away in 1783, the estate was inherited by his son, George John, who was the 2nd Earl Spencer.

George continued to keep the house alive with parties and events. He developed one of the largest libraries in Europe within Althorp, with over 43,000 first editions lining its bookshelves.

The library was full of early printed works, including 57 Caxton bibles, which are limited edition prints of the King James' Bible, often bound in luxurious materials.

The library today

Today, the library room itself is still intact and said to be the current Earl's favourite room in the house. Sadly, the extensive book collection was sold off at some point in the 19th century to pay increasing debts by the 5th Earl of Spencer, who was also known as the Red Earl due to his auburn-coloured beard.​

Overhauling the estate

Over time, Althorp House has undergone a whole host of renovations.

The house was overhauled in the 18th century (roughly between 1786 and 1790) by architect Henry Holland, who transformed it from a red-brick Tudor mansion into a grand design with four Corinthian pillars added to the front of the house, which can be seen today and in this image.

Althorp's saloon

The house’s striking entrance, Wootton Hall, is one of the highlights of Holland's overhaul of the house, along with the saloon, seen here. With its imposing oak staircase, which was already there in the 1660s, the saloon was one of the first rooms at Althorp to have electricity installed.

Originally an inner courtyard, the saloon was later roofed to create an extensive, sheltered entry to the grand home. Today, it displays many family portraits including one of Princess Diana.

Althorp's art connoisseur

After these significant changes, Albert Spencer, the 7th Earl, inherited the estate after his father Charles' death in 1922. This portrait of him was created by John Singer Sargent, an American expatriate artist considered the 'leading portrait painter of his generation'.

A well-known art connoisseur, Albert was a trustee of the Wallace Collection, chairman of the Royal School of Needlework, a Fellow of both the Society of Antiquaries of London and the Royal Society of Arts, and from 1961 until 1969 he was Chair of the Advisory Council of the Victoria and Albert Museum.

Althorp House during the wars

Albert, seen here in 1923 with his daughter Lady Anne Spencer and his sister Lady Margaret Spencer at the Pytchley Hounds meet at Althorp Park, had a keen interest in art. But he began selling off paintings and other items to pay off debts. In the 1930s, Albert was forced to sell off a Hans Holbein portrait of Henry VIII to finance his son's expensive private education.

Unlike many country houses in Britain during World War II, which were occupied by the military and converted into hospitals, training camps and barracks, Althorp house remained untouched.

Albert ensured they used the stables instead, supposedly to protect the valuable interiors. Due to this protection, during World War II, many of the family's artworks and belongings from the London-based Spencer House were moved to Althorp House for safekeeping.

Althorp passes to Diana's father

Albert died in 1975 and was succeeded by his son, Edward John Spencer (pictured), the father of Diana, Princess of Wales. Before his death, however, the stately home was opened to the public for the first time in 1953, so people could enjoy the beauty of the home and its collections.

Known to his family and friends as 'Johnnie Althorp', Diana's father inherited the house and grounds along with his title. He was a Member of the House of Lords from June 1975 (the day his father died, and he inherited the peerage) until his own death in 1992.

Edward John remarries

Edward John Spencer and his wife Frances Shand Kydd were parents to Diana, Princess of Wales, along with her four siblings, who included Charles Spencer, then titled Viscount Althorp.

However, the pair divorced when Diana was just seven years old and the 8th Earl Spencer later married Raine McCorquodale (pictured), daughter of the British romantic novelist Dame Barbara Cartland, in 1976.

Princess Diana’s childhood home

Born at the family's property on the Sandringham Estate on 1 July 1961, Diana Frances Spencer spent much of her childhood at Park House in Norfolk.

It wasn't until 1976, when Princess Diana was 14 years old, that Johnnie moved his family from Sandringham to the Althorp estate in Northamptonshire.

Diana's early years

This photo of Diana was taken around 1965 when she was four. At that time, she was living with her father and mother, Frances, in Norfolk.

A "very, very cuddly" child according to her former nanny Inge Crane, Diana grew up with three siblings, Sarah, Jane and Charles, but it was her brother she was closest to.

Diana and brother Charles

Another early picture of Diana, this time with brother Charles, was taken in the summer of 1967. Diana was three years his senior. Sarah and Jane, who were nine and seven years older than Charles respectively, were away at boarding school for most of his childhood. That meant Diana and Charles grew close, especially during their parents' acrimonious split:

“Diana and I had two older sisters who were away at school, so she and I were very much in it together and I did talk to her about it,” Charles told British newspaper The Sunday Times. “Our father was a quiet and constant source of love, but our mother wasn’t cut out for maternity. Not her fault, she couldn’t do it.”

Happy memories at Althorp

In the summer of 1968, Diana was photographed in London's Cadogan Place Gardens during a family holiday. Later in life, she spoke candidly about the difficulties of her childhood, often linking them to her parents' strained marriage, which ended in divorce the following year.

Despite the challenges, a few happy memories stood out from her time at Althorp House. One of the most memorable was practicing tap dancing on the home's Italian marble floors.

Teenage Diana

By her teens in 1973, Diana was at West Heath Girls' School in Sevenoaks, Kent. One of Diana's nannies, Mary Clarke, who began working for the family in 1971 and collected her from school, spoke of her as: “Initially shy, [but] soon she would warm to you ... once you gave her confidence, she really excelled.”

The Princess Diana Museum hosts a collection of things that belonged to teenage Diana, including her LP Album collection. She liked to listen to ABBA, The Beatles, Wham!, Bryan Adams, David Bowie, The Eagles and John Lennon. We can imagine her at home at Althorp listening to her favourite songs.

Struggling finances

During this time the family's finances were perilous. Diana's father was forced to sell many treasures to pay for the estate's upkeep after taking over Althorp. He even started selling his own home-produced tipple and built up an extensive cellar.

Meanwhile, a young Charles did his bit by guiding public tours around the stately pile in Northamptonshire. Here he is guiding a small group through the grounds. "This way, ladies and gentlemen!"

Meeting Prince Charles at Althorp

The teenage Diana Spencer enjoyed the remainder of her formative years at the estate, gaining the title of Lady Diana when her father was made 8th Earl Spencer.

However, her world would change forever after she met Prince Charles at Althorp House when she was just 16 years old. Upon their marriage in 1981, 22-year-old Diana became the Princess of Wales.

Diana's favourite retreat

Even after tying the knot with Prince Charles and joining the British royal family, Diana continued to visit her childhood home.

Her favourite bedroom whenever she returned to Althorp was said to have been The King William Bedroom, named after King William III who is said to have slept here in 1695.

Charles Spencer gets engaged at Althorp

And her brother had romances of his own at Althorp. He is seen here at the house with fiancée Victoria Aitken, nee Lockwood, a British model for Dior and Levi.

Just six weeks after meeting her, Charles chose a heart-shaped ring made up of a diamond and a ruby with a crown-like design on top and mini diamonds around the outside to propose. It looked almost identical to one formerly owned by the late Queen's great-great-grandmother, Queen Victoria.

Althorp passes to Charles Spencer

When John Edward, Diana's father, passed away in 1992, just five years before his daughter, the estate was inherited by his son, Charles Spencer, 9th Earl Spencer, who now resides there with his family.

With the sprawling property losing huge amounts of money annually and struggling to survive, it was time for another overhaul.

Diana's memorial

Following Diana's tragic death in a car crash in 1997, aged 36, her funeral was held at Westminster Abbey and her remains buried on an island in an ornamental lake known as The Oval in the grounds of Althorp House.

The burial site is off limits, but you can visit a temple nearby which features a quote from the princess, saying: “Nothing brings me more happiness than trying to help the most vulnerable people in society.”

The Oval

This overhead view of the peaceful lake and island where Diana rests show how wonderfully peaceful the place is.

Earl Spencer said in 2017 the island on the lake is the “safest place” for his sister to rest, as it is protected from public visitors.

The path to the lake is lined with 36 oak trees, each of which represents a year of Diana's life. The island can be glimpsed across the water from the temple created for public visitors.

Legendary visitors

Her place of rest has received thousands of visitors since, not least from the late President Mandela, who came to pay his respects at Diana’s grave in 2002.

The two icons met when the Princess stayed with her brother in Cape Town in 1997. The former freedom fighter planted an oak at Althorp, which thrives to this day, recalls the Earl on his Instagram, serving as a “witness to the honour of a great man’s visit".

Running Althorp

Today, there are over 90 rooms within Althorp House. Each is filled with gilt-framed paintings, ornate cornicing and incredible chandeliers, not to mention high-quality antique furniture.

The current Earl, Charles Spencer, is seen here with his third wife Karen, in the relatively cosy Sunderland Room with former ballet dancer Darcey Bussell during the Althorp Literary Festival in 2015.

Since the 1990s, Charles has worked hard to increase the estate’s revenue to keep Althorp running, with numerous projects and openings to the public.

Creative thinking

As well as turning it into a popular public space and tourist attraction, converting areas like the former stables into a hospitality area for the public, Charles has had great success with his annual literary festival, which is his passion.

In 2009, major renovations were carried out on Althorp. Work was done on the stonework, roof and tiles, but the job wasn’t cheap. The cost of the expensive renovation is estimated to have run into the multi-millions, with £10 million ($13m) spent on the roof work alone according to British newspaper the Daily Mail.

Under the hammer

The following year, a huge auction took place and hundreds of items from within the estate were auctioned off, raising a whopping £21.1 million ($27m).

They included this 17th-century painting A Commander Being Armed For Battle by Sir Peter Paul Rubens, which fetched £9 million ($11.4m), reported British newspaper The Independent.

Althorp's Yellow Drawing Room

The painting, which was acquired by the Spencers in 1802, originally hung in the Yellow Drawing Room, as seen here, on the far wall.

The room was also known as the Rubens Rooms, named for its four Rubens paintings. Also adorning the walls was an array of portraits by Joshua Reynolds. The spectacular ceiling was created by master builder Benjamin Broadbent of Leicester in 1865.

Open to the public

Today, Althorp House is a major draw for tourists. Guests can stroll around the grounds and see inside the grand house, including the Oak Bedroom, so-called due to the large oak bed, where Sir Winston Churchill slept when he stayed in 1934.

The bedcovering and curtains are embroidered with the letter 'S' to represent the Spencer name. It is also where the first Earl Spencer is said to have secretly married Georgiana Poyntz during his 21st birthday party in 1755.

Original features

One of the home's most impressive original period features is the 115-foot-long (35m) picture gallery, which was left untouched after renovations and to this day retains its Tudor wood panelling.

A carpet is being laid in this image in preparation for the reopening of the Diana, Princess of Wales exhibition, back in 2000. The paintings lining the walls are the so-called 'Windsor Beauties', a collection of works by Sir Peter Lely. They are the ladies of the court of Charles II, some of whom were rumoured to be his mistresses.

Althorp today

Spanning 13,500 acres (5,463 ha) and encompassing 28 listed buildings, the estate is still owned by Charles Spencer and serves primarily as his family home.

He had been residing at the property with his third wife Karen and their daughter Charlotte Diana, until he announced their divorce in June 2024.

The Earl has two children from his second marriage to Caroline Freud and four children from his first marriage to Victoria Lockwood, including Viscount Louis Althorp, who will inherit his father's title, along with the Grade I-listed house and grounds.

Quirky details

In 2023, before their split, Charles' wife Karen had been excited to begin another round of works at Althorp. She shared this image on Instagram writing: "I love this door. It’s such a great example of the quirky nature of this 500-year-old house. It also exemplifies the challenges of the renovation that we are at long last about to kick off."

She explained that architects and planners were poised to begin after "over 4 years of study" and that the door represented "the unexpected challenges that the project presents. Just when you think you can count on a straight line, you discover you can’t."

Digging at Althorp

Those internal works follow an incredible discovery in 2021 on the Althorp estate's grounds. Charles revealed that he had been working with Norwegian archaeologist Cat Jarman to unearth Roman ruins in the grounds, including a Roman well.

Here, a team led by Professor Mark Horton, British maritime and historical archaeologist, TV presenter and writer, are digging to reveal the ruins and salvage pieces of pottery.

Althorp's Roman villa

The discovery was documented on British TV's Channel 4 in a show called Ancient Secrets of Althorp.

In a video shared from the official YouTube channel for the Spencer family, Charles explains how important the discovery is, stating: "when you find something this old, it puts human life and expectations into content."