Princess Diana’s family left stunned after fire rages at estate where she’s buried

Princess Diana’s younger brother Earl Spencer revealed on social media that a farmhouse at Althorp House in Northamptonshire, the family’s ancestral home, had been burned down by vandals

The brother of Princess Diana says he’s been left ‘stunned’ after a fire destroyed a building at the estate when she is buried. Diana’s younger brother Earl Spencer took to social media today to reveal that a farmhouse at Althorp House had been targeted by vandals and had burned down.

He shared pictures of the blaze as well as the aftermath showing the destroyed building. In a post on X, he thanked Northamptonshire Fire Service for dealing with the fire, adding that nobody had been in the building at the time. He wrote: “Stunned to learn that one of @AlthorpHouse⁩’s farmhouses – fortunately, unoccupied at the time – was apparently burnt down by vandals last night. With thanks to @northantsfire ⁩for doing their very best. So very sad that anyone would think this a fun thing to do.”

Meanwhile, Adey Greeno, Althorp’s conservation manager later shared on X that the farmhouse had to be “razed to the ground” for safety reasons”.

Althorp has been the ancestral home of the Spencer family for 500 years and it was where Diana grew up after her parents divorced before she married the now King Charles. The 13,500-acre estate was where where she was laid to rest after her untimely death in 1997. It opens to visitors each summertime.

Her grave in the middle of a Round Oval Lake on the estate, which is inaccessible to the public. After her death in 1997, her brother Charles said her family agreed it would be a fitting final resting place for the princess due to its “beauty and tranquillity”.

Despite the island being inaccesible to the public, her family can go there and it is said both Prince William and Prince Harry have visited their mother’s grave in the past. In fact, in his memoir Spare, Harry revealed that he took now wife Meghan Markle to the island.

The pair took to visit the grounds in August 2017 after they had been a couple for roughly a year. In his book, Harry describes how they rowed out to the island on the 20th anniversary of Diana’s death, where he recalled seeing Meghan with her “palms flat against the stone”.

After taking time by himself to reflect and pay tribute to his mother, he recalled sensing that his girlfriend at the time also wanted a private moment. He said: “When I returned, she was on her knees with her eyes closed and her palms flat against the stone.” The duke added that Meghan had told him that she asked Diana for “clarity and guidance” during her moment alone.

The current custodian of the estate is Diana’s brother Charles – and it is his oldest son Louis Spencer, Viscount Althorp, who will inherit it over William and Harry.

Even though Louis has three older sisters – Lady Kitty Spencer, Lady Amelia Spencer and Lady Eliza Spencer – the system of primogeniture that exists in the aristocracy, means that titles are passed down to the oldest boy, not the firstborn child.

His oldest sister Kitty, a model and socialite, has previously said about her little brother inheriting the estate over her: “Primogeniture can be a tricky topic, because as times are changing, attitudes are as well. We’ve grown up understanding that it’s Louis to inherit, and Louis will do an incredible job.”

Their father Charles noted in 2015, “I would be totally relaxed about Kitty inheriting it, but… if I chose Kitty it would be against all the tradition that goes with Althorp.”