Take a look inside Althorp House, Princess Diana's childhood home and final resting place
Talia Lakritz
- Princess Diana grew up at Althorp House, an estate in Northamptonshire, England.
- The 100,000-square-foot home dates back to 1508 and features 31 bedrooms.
- Diana is buried at the estate, which opens to the public every summer.
Althorp House is located on a 14,000-acre estate in Northamptonshire, England.
Althorp House is located between the villages of Great Brington and Harlestone, northwest of Northampton.
The Spencer family acquired the Althorp estate in 1508.
Among the home's famous residents are Princess Diana and Georgiana Spencer, the Duchess of Devonshire, played by Keira Knightley in the 2008 drama "The Duchess."
Princess Diana was the daughter of John Spencer, Viscount Althorp, and Frances Spencer, Viscountess Althorp.
Diana was born at Park House on the royal family's Sandringham estate.
The Spencers separated in 1967 and divorced in 1969. Diana and her siblings lived at Park House until their father inherited the title of earl in 1975 and moved the family to Althorp House.
John Spencer, 8th Earl Spencer, married his second wife, Raine, Countess of Dartmouth, in 1976.
The couple lived in Althorp House.
Althorp House measures 100,000 square feet and features 31 bedrooms.
The home also features a great room, a ballroom, and a Painters' Passage lined with artists' self portraits and family busts.
The house contains large private collections of furniture, paintings, and ceramics.
Diana's brother Charles, now the 9th Earl Spencer, showed tourists around Althorp House on his breaks from school.
Althorp's picture gallery includes notable works of art such as Anthony van Dyck's 1637 portrait "War and Peace."
The gallery also features portraits of King Charles I, who ruled from 1625 until his execution in 1649.
Nelson Mandela, Mikhail Gorbachev, Winston Churchill, and many royal family members have stayed at Althorp House.
Winston Churchill began writing his memoirs in one of Althorp House's state bedrooms.
The 1st Earl Spencer and his fiancée, Georgiana Poyntz, were secretly married in this room in 1755.
The room served as the 1st Earl Spencer's mother's dressing room.
The library holds 10,000 books in its collection, dating from 1892.
The 2nd Earl Spencer once had as many as 43,000 books shelved in eight rooms.
Today, Althorp House opens to the public every summer.
Diana's brother Charles, 9th Earl Spencer, still lives there.
Althorp House hosted an exhibition featuring 150 artifacts from Diana's life, including her wedding dress, for 15 years before closing in 2014.
Diana's possessions belonged to her brother until both Prince William and Prince Harry turned 30. When Harry turned 30 in 2014, the contents of the exhibit were transferred to them at Kensington Palace.
The "people's princess" is buried at Althorp House on an island in the center of a lake.
The Spencer family also planted 36 oak trees on the grounds, symbolizing every year of Diana's life.
Near the lake, a small memorial features quotes and a silhouette of Diana.
The quote from Diana reads: "Nothing brings me more happiness than trying to help the most vulnerable people in society. It is a goal and an essential part of my life — a kind of destiny. Whoever is in distress can call on me. I will come running wherever they are."
The other featured quote is from her brother's speech at her funeral: "We give thanks for the life of a woman I'm so proud to be able to call my sister: The unique, the complex, the extraordinary and irreplaceable Diana, whose beauty, both internal and external, will never be extinguished from our minds."
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