Princess Diana's private homes revealed

Inside Princess Diana's extraordinary residences

More than a quarter of a century since her tragic death, Princess Diana remains a popular figure. We step inside the remarkable places that she called home, from the stately estate where she grew up to the Kensington Palace apartment where she raised Princes William and Harry.

Let's take a look back at Diana's life at home and explore some stunning royal residences along the way...

Where was Princess Diana born?

Diana Frances Spencer was born on 1 July 1961 at Park House in Sandringham, a rented property on the Royal Family's private estate. The Spencer family descend from a long line of aristocrats who were close to the British royal family for decades.

Diana’s grandmother, Baroness Fermoy, was a lady-in-waiting to the Queen Mother and Queen Elizabeth II. Fermoy's royal connections began in 1956, when she was appointed 'Extra Woman of the Bedchamber' by the Queen Mother, before being promoted to 'Woman of the Bedchamber' in 1960, a role she held for 33 years.

Growing up in Norfolk

Diana had a happy early childhood growing up on the Norfolk estate. She’s pictured here as a very young child in her pram at Park House.

According to her former nanny, Inge Crane, she was "very, very cuddly". "There's always been something special about Park House. It's difficult to put a finger on what it is," Crane told CNN.

Diana's childhood home

Althorp Manor is often credited as being her childhood home but Diana lived at Park House until she was 14, so her early roots were very much here in Norfolk.

Even Diana’s mother, the Hon. Frances Burke Roche, was born at Park House in 1936, the very same day that King George V died at Sandringham House.

Princess Diana's parents

Diana grew up with three siblings: Sarah, Jane and Charles. When this photograph of her with Charles, Viscount Althorp, was taken in the summer of 1967, she had no idea that her world was about to be turned upside down.

Shortly afterwards, her mother Frances left her father to be with Peter Shand Kydd, an heir to a wallpaper fortune in Australia. By 1969, they were married following a bitter divorce that affected the young Diana forever.

The end of Park House

The last of the Spencers left Park House in 1974. Nine years later, in 1983, Queen Elizabeth donated it to the disability charity Leonard Cheshire.

In 1987 it opened its doors as an accessible country hotel for people with a range of conditions, including Parkinson’s, cerebral palsy and spinal injuries, but it was sadly forced to close in 2020 due to mounting repair costs, following the pandemic, and has been returned to the Sandringham Estate, say reports.

Diana's prep school

This Grade II country house close to the Norfolk–Suffolk border was once Princess Diana’s prep school until it closed its doors in April 2023. Diana was a pupil at Riddlesworth Hall School between the ages of nine and 12, leaving in 1973.

Built in the Georgian style for wealthy banker Silvanus Bevan lll in 1792, it was on sale with Savills for £3 million ($3.7m) in 2023. Its contents were sold at auction in January 2024.

Its future as yet looks uncertain but it may well be converted in to luxury homes, reports The Times.

The Princess returns to Riddlesworth

Diana "adored" her years at Riddlesworth, according to Andrew Morton in his biography Diana: Her True Story – In Her Own Words. She said: “I loved being at school. I was very naughty in the sense of always wanting to laugh and muck about rather than sit tight in the four walls of the schoolroom."

Although she left in 1973, Diana returned to the school for a visit in April 1989 when she unveiled a stained-glass window. She even lifted up a young boy so he could open the blue velvet curtains himself to reveal the new work of art. The princess was met outside the hall by the headmistress and several of the pupils. These youngsters clearly took delight in presenting their adorable pets to the special guest.

A mother and a princess

Throughout her life, the 'People's Princess' took great interest in children's charities and was by this time mother to seven-year-old William and four-year-old Harry. Diana was known for the easy way in which she interacted with the children she met during her royal visits.

It appears her visit to Riddlesworth was no different. She spent time with the students in their classrooms, crouching to talk to them and even sitting on a tiny children's chair to take a closer look at the project some of the younger girls were working on.

Althorp House, Northamptonshire

Diana and her family moved to Althorp in 1976, when she was 14 years old, after her father, John Spencer, Viscount Althorp, came into his title.

Despite the bitter state of her parents' relationship, she was said to have loved living here. A former Althorp cook, Betty Andrews, told the BBC in 1997: "Looking back, it was probably the happiest time of her life."

A family home for generations

The grand stately home has been in Diana’s family for over five centuries, with 20 generations having lived there.

Her aristocratic bloodline traces back to such noted figures as George Washington and Mary Queen of Scots and the house boasts some stunning rooms, including the picture gallery, which includes paintings by Van Dyke, and is where the current Earl Spencer is seated in this photo.

Family business

Pictured here with Diana’s brother Charles, Diana's father was remarried to Raine McCorquodale, daughter of the romantic novelist Dame Barbara Cartland, in the same year.

After taking over Althorp he was forced to sell many treasures to pay for its upkeep and even started producing his own wine.

A 500-acre estate

As well as the 90-room house built in 1508, there is also a beautiful estate covering over 500 acres.

Set in the grounds there are cottages, farms, woodland and entire villages, more than enough to keep the young Diana occupied.

Althorp's grounds

Fallow deer have been roaming at Althorp since the 16th century and the estate is home to many native bird species, such as barn owls and grey partridge.

Veteran trees are the stars of over 10,000 acres of woodland, including a 72-foot Crimea Oak that was planted by Sir John Spencer III in 1589. This watercolour of the house is by William Daniell, who was painting in the 18th century.

The grand staircase

The main staircase at Althorp House is a grand feature which sets the scene for the rest of the property, which boasts over 90 rooms filled with gilt-framed paintings, ornate cornicing and incredible chandeliers.

The residence has an impressive library, with wooden floors and endless book cases and is, say reports, the present Earl’s favourite room in the house.

King William Bedroom

The King William bedroom, adorned in blues and sunny yellows, was Diana's favourite place to sleep when she returned to visit Althorp after she was married.

Diana was said to love the grounds and house, and it’s not hard to see why. Having inherited Althorp House, her brother, the present Earl Spencer, now resides there with his family.

Riddlesworth Hall School

Like many young women from her background, Diana was educated at boarding school and spent much of her time there as a child.

She began her schooling at Silfield in Gayton, Norfolk, and moved to Riddlesworth Hall School, an all-girls boarding school near Thetford, when she was nine.

West Heath Girls' School

At the age of 12, Diana moved schools to join her sisters Sarah and Jane at West Heath Girls' School in Sevenoaks, Kent, in 1973.

The exclusive institution boarded around 100 girls at the time. Diana was never a strong academic and failed her O-Levels twice before departing West Heath when she was sixteen.

A nostalgic return visit

She returned for a visit with her sisters in 1987 however, when she was Princess of Wales.

Her brother Charles recalls her as being quite shy up until that time, but adds that she did show a talent for music and was an accomplished pianist. Diana also excelled in swimming and diving and studied ballet and tap dance.

Teenage Diana

Lifted from the pages of a family photo album, this image shows a 13-year-old Diana with her Shetland pony, Souffle, at her mother's home Ladywell House, in Fife, Scotland during the summer of 1974.

Ladywell House

Large and elegant, the Georgian home, built in 1806, is set amidst hundreds of acres of farmland on the edge of the beautiful and historic village of Falkland in Fife. Diana's mother Frances Shand Kydd lived here until she passed away in 2004. Diana and the Princes William and Harry visited on numerous occasions.

Today you can stay in the beautiful house or Steading Cottage, a smaller property on the grounds, surrounded by beautiful Scottish countryside.

Institut Alpin Videmanette

After departing West Heath, Diana spent one month at the exclusive Swiss finishing school Institut Alpin Videmanette, shown in this rare, previously unpublished photo.

While it closed its doors for good in 1991, for a while it was the most expensive school in Europe and taught lessons in skiing, cooking, dressmaking and French. Valuable skills for a future princess to learn...

Coleherne Court, London

In July 1979, Diana’s mother bought her a flat at Coleherne Court in Earl's Court for a reported £50,000 ($62k) as an 18th birthday present.

She lived there with three flatmates until 25th February 1981, during which time she took an advanced cooking course and went on to do a number of humble jobs, including a spell as a dance instructor, a playgroup assistant, a nanny, and even working as a cleaner for her sister, Lady Sarah.

A playground for the rich

The flat sits on Old Brompton Road, between Earl’s Court and Kensington. A playground for young, rich aristocrats even today, it’s filled with upmarket restaurants and designer shops including Harrods.

In Andrew Morton's memoir, Diana, In Her Own Words, she called her days there "the happiest time of her life... It was juvenile, innocent, uncomplicated and above all fun."

Courting Charles

In 1980, Lady Diana Spencer was by now romantically linked with the Prince of Wales and this image shows her leaving her London flat in her car, pursued by photographers.

Charles and Diana met in 1977 when she was 16 and he was dating her older sister, Lady Sarah. They met again at a country weekend in 1980 and he began courting her officially, inviting her to go sailing with him on the royal yacht Britannia at Cowes and then to meet the Queen and Queen Mother at Balmoral, once the Queen's summer home, in November 1980.

Camilla Parker-Bowles

Here we see Lady Diana Spencer and Camilla Parker-Bowles walking together at Ludlow Races, where Prince Charles was competing in 1980.

This was during the early days of their courtship, but the woman who would go on to become The Duchess of Cornwall and eventually Queen Camilla, was already an important figure in his life.

A proposal

On 6 February 1981, Prince Charles, heir apparent to the throne, proposed to the 19-year-old Lady Diana Spencer and it was made official a few weeks later. Media interest in the future princess intensified even further, and there were often press photographers camped outside her door.

She left the flat at Coleherne Court for good the night before her engagement was announced and her mother, Frances Shand Kydd, is reported to have sold the property for £100,000 ($123k) that same year. Apartments in the same block now sell for over £3 million ($3.7m).

Clarence House, London

Diana and Charles began making public appearances together, starting with this fundraiser in Goldsmiths' Hall in March 1981.

Following their official engagement, Diana left her job as a nursery assistant and moved into Clarence House to prepare for their wedding that summer.

A fully-fledged royal

The move into Clarence House symbolised Diana's journey from a member of the lower aristocracy to a fully-fledged royal.

Located on The Mall in Westminster, London, the house was built in the 1820s by renowned architect John Nash for the Duke of Clarence. It stands next to St James' Palace but offers a much more informal and comfortable living experience for the royals.

A London base

Clarence House was the Queen and Prince Philip's first home following their marriage in 1947, and was where they raised the Prince of Wales as a young child.

From 1953, it was first and foremost the royal residence of the Queen Mother, who was living there during the period Diana stayed at the house during her engagement. It is currently the London base of King Charles lll and Queen Camilla.

Buckingham Palace, London

While Diana spent the night before her wedding at Clarence House, she also lived for a while at Buckingham Palace itself.

Diana lived at the world-famous royal address while the huge preparations were underway for what was set to be one of the biggest royal weddings in history.

The kiss on the balcony

The 20-year-old Diana married 32-year-old Prince Charles at St Paul's Cathedral on 29 July 1981. This kiss on the balcony of Buckingham Palace has become one of the most recognisable royal photos of all time.

The fairytale wedding was watched by a global audience of around 750 million people, while more than half a million people lined the streets of London to catch sight of the new princess in her glorious 25-foot wedding train.

Apartment 8, Kensington Palace, London

One of London's most historic addresses, Kensington Palace was purchased by William III as a country retreat in 1689. Since its beginnings as a Jacobean villa, the palace has gone through a number of transformations.

It has been home to some of the country’s most celebrated royals, including Queen Victoria, Princess Margaret and now Prince William and the Duchess of Cambridge, Catherine. In 2018, newlyweds Prince Harry and Meghan Markle briefly resided on the estate too.

A Royal family

Following their wedding, Prince Charles and Princess Diana took up residence in Apartment 8, before Diana gave birth to William in 1982 and Harry in 1984.

Their apartment is located within the quadrangle that sits between Clock Court and Ivy Cottage and was one of several royal apartments within the palace.

Diana's 'KP'

Princess Diana’s desk, which sat in the living room, was surrounded by her personal keepsakes, including photographs of her children and her school tuck box.

Though Diana is famously known to have struggled with the pressures of public royal life, she grew extremely fond of Kensington Palace, which she nicknamed KP.

Traditional decor

A family photograph with the young Prince William taken in the living room of their Kensington Palace apartment suggests that the home was traditionally furnished, with blue patterned wallpaper, paintings and floral bouquets.

In 2016, a royal spokesperson confirmed that Apartment 8 was to be used as a workspace for the then Prince William and the Duchess of Cambridge's official responsibilities and charitable work.

The Sunken Garden

Diana loved the calm of the gardens at Kensington Palace, and her favourite place was said to be the Sunken Garden.

Formerly known as the Dutch Garden, it uses symmetrical, concentric borders of pretty planting around a small pool of water with benches and arbours to add private spots for contemplation.

Highgrove House, Gloucestershire

Charles and Diana split their time between Kensington Palace and their country estate, Highgrove House.

Prince Charles bought the Gloucestershire country home in 1980, the year before he married Diana, and they used it as a weekend country retreat.

Princes William and Harry spent much of their childhood here and family snapshots show the pair riding a shetland pony around the grounds, led by their mother.

A local princess

Pictured here on the steps of Highgrove, Diana reportedly wasn't a fan of the nine-bedroom property, which she thought was too small.

During her time at the estate, the Princess is said to have frequently taken her young sons out shopping in the nearby towns of Tetbury and Cirencester and the royals became a familiar sight for local residents.

Although Highgrove House is now officially owned by the Prince of Wales, the King and Queen still use it as a country house.

World tours

As a prominent royal couple, Prince Charles and Princess Diana had many official duties to perform that kept them away from home, including tours of the Commonwealth countries.

Diana made headlines in 1983 when she took the still-young Prince William with her on their trip to Australia.

Diana and Charles split

As the years wore on following Harry's birth in 1984, Charles and Diana became further and further estranged.

By 1992, following a tour of South Korea, the couple were ready to split and Prince Charles moved out of Kensington Palace into St James' Palace and then Clarence House, where he still lives with his second wife, Queen Camilla.

Raising William and Harry

Despite their differences, Charles and Diana were able to share the parenting responsibilities of their two boys, showing up for William's first day at Eton here in 1995.

After her divorce in 1996, Diana chose to remain in Apartment 8 and continued to raise her sons there until her untimely death in 1997.

Diana, Princess of Wales

Even following the divorce in 1996, Diana was allowed to retain use of the apartment in Kensington Palace and, as the mother of the heir to the throne, she was also permitted to use the title Diana, Princess of Wales.

She continued to dedicate her life to charitable work and travel the world, while using London as her base to raise her sons.

Diana's tragic death

In 1997, Diana, Princess of Wales, was tragically killed in a car accident in Paris. Kensington Palace was deluged by a sea of floral tributes.

There was great controversy in the run-up to series six of The Crown which covered Princess Diana's death in November 2023, reports the BBC, but it was generally thought that Netflix handled the subject accurately and sensitively.

Home to rest at Althorp

Following Diana's tragic death in a car crash in 1997, aged 36, a funeral was held at Westminster Abbey and her remains were 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.”

Tribute to an icon

The temple also features an inscription of the Earl’s stirring speech at Diana’s funeral.

Earl Spencer has been fiercely protective of his sister’s memory since her death, blasting Donald Trump for saying she and the late Queen Elizabeth ll “kissed his a**” in a recent book. The Earl tweeted in response that Diana was in fact less than impressed with the former US President.

Garden memorial

A statue in honour of the princess, commissioned by her sons, was unveiled in the Sunken Garden at Kensington Palace on what would have been her 60th birthday in 2021.

A joint statement from Kensington Palace said: "The Princes hope the statue will help all those who visit Kensington Palace to reflect on their mother’s life and legacy."

Diana: the People's Princess

Though decades may have passed since she died, love for and interest in Diana is as strong today as it ever was.

Many of her famous outfits, including her wedding dress, have been displayed at Kensington Palace over the years, and she lives on through her sons, who continue to honour her memory through their own ongoing charity work.