When Princess Diana died in the early hours of August 31, 1997, from injuries sustained in a high-speed car crash in Paris, Britain and the world entered a period of reflective mourning, alongside her two young sons: Prince William, aged 15, and Prince Harry who was 12. After a televised funeral service at Westminster Abbey on September 6, 1997, which was estimated to have been watched by over 2 billion people, the princess' body was driven to her family home, Althorp, in the county of Northamptonshire, England. As Diana was no longer married to Prince Charles (now King Charles III), the royal family did not make the decision on where she would be buried. Ultimately, her Spencer family decided she would be buried on the Althorp estate, in the center of an island located in a large lake where she could rest in peace.
No photographs have ever been published of Diana's final resting place, with only aerial shots of the island and those taken from its perimeter making their way into the public domain. Accounts of the site have been given in biographies and memoirs, most recently the 2023 book Spare, written by the princess' youngest son, Harry. In the book, he revealed that in 2022, he took his wife Meghan Markle to visit the grave just days before his grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II, died. It was the 25th anniversary of Diana's own death and came two years after Harry and Meghan dramatically split from the monarchy.
Here, Newsweek looks at how Prince Harry remembered Meghan Markle's visit to Althorp in his memoir Spare.
Althorp: A Family Legacy
The Althorp estate has been in the possession of the Spencer family dating back beyond the 15th century, and today the impressive Georgian mansion sits in a park and farmland estimated to be over 13,000 acres. In 1975, when Princess Diana was 13 years old, her grandfather died, making her father the new Earl Spencer and owner of Althorp and a number of other properties. The earl moved his family into the large house, and the princess lived there until she moved to London in her later teenage years. She regularly returned to the estate during her father's lifetime.
In 1992, Diana's brother, Charles Spencer, inherited the house and estate. He oversaw his sister's interment at the grave on the island in the ornamental lake dug in the 19th century and developed a memorial around its perimeter. In a rare account of the island itself, he described walking around a "labyrinth" of hedges before reaching his mother's resting place.
Visiting the Gravesite
Since Diana's death, her brother and two sisters, Jane and Sarah, have maintained close relationships with Princes William and Harry. In Spare, Harry wrote that in 2022 he spent time with all three of his mother's siblings and Meghan on the estate before boarding a small boat to row his wife over to see the gravesite. Harry recalled, "I helped Meg into the boat. It wobbled, but I quick-stepped to the middle, got it righted in time. As she found a seat in the stern, I took up the oars." However, the oars didn't work, and they found themselves stuck in the thick mud of the shallows.
Uncle Charles came down to the water's edge and gave them a little shove. They waved to him and to Harry's two aunts, saying goodbye as they glided across the pond. Harry took a moment to gaze at Althorp's rolling fields and ancient trees, reflecting on the thousands of green acres where his mother grew up, a place where she had known some peace.
A Moment of Reflection
Harry described the emotional weight of the visit. He noted that it was the first time Meghan had seen the sacred place and how meaningful it was to bring "the girl of my dreams home to meet mum." The couple hesitated, hugged, and Harry placed flowers on the grave, speaking to his mother in his mind, expressing how much he missed her and asking for guidance and clarity. He later left Meghan alone for a moment of quiet contemplation.
When he returned, he found her kneeling with her eyes shut, palms against the stone. When he asked what she had prayed for, she replied, "Clarity, and guidance." This poignant moment illustrates the lasting impact of Diana's legacy on her family and the profound connection they continue to share.
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