The house where the late Princess of Wales was raised along with her siblings has been listed for rent on an Air BnB-style site by her brother Charles Spencer.
- Oct 2, 2023
AceShowbiz - Princess Diana's childhood home is available for rent on an Air BnB-style site - but guests are thought to be barred from visiting her grave on the grounds. The royal, who died in a Paris car smash in August 1997 aged 36, was raised in the Grade I-listed Althorp House, West Northamptonshire, with her two older sisters, Lady Sarah and Lady Jane Spencer, as well as her younger brother, now Earl Charles Spencer, and was buried on an island on the 13,000-acre estate's Oval Lake.
The Sun on Sunday revealed Earl Spencer, 59, is now putting the house on the Elysian Estates service. According to the newspaper, guests would be paying "tens of thousands for just a night's stay at the mansion" although the business has not officially disclosed the cost of stays.
A brochure tells prospective guests, "Althorp offers unparalleled levels of service, privacy and luxury to rival the finest properties in the world. Walk in the footsteps of kings and queens, feast or celebrate in spectacular surroundings, marvel at the sense of history and artwork, and slumber in pure luxury."
Althorp House was built in 1688, and is the Spencer family's ancestral home. Along with sprawling grounds, it offers dining halls, a chapel, billiard rooms, priceless art and a picture gallery. Guests can also be provided with chefs, a helicopter transfer, pianist, shooting events and fireworks via Elysian Estates.
Diana was interred on a small island at the centre of the ornamental lake in the gardens of the house, overlooked by a Doric-style temple bearing her name. Earl Spencer has said the family chose the secluded location to "act as a buffer against" the "insane and ghoulish."
No mention of her resting place is made on the hotel-style listing by Earl Spencer, who The Sun said "would run the rule over all rental applicants." He was criticized in 2013 for letting Althorp for £25,000 a night to tourists with a travel firm.
And in 2016, Diana's home was opened to overnight guests to raise money for charity. Guests were able to stay in the princess' old bedroom, where she lived before her marriage to Prince Charles, during weekend visits that cost approximately £25,000 per couple or £175,000 for a party up to 18.
The stately 90-room Tudor mansion and grounds are owned by Earl Spencer, and have been in his aristocratic family for 500 years and 18 generations. Located north-west of Northampton, the 13,000-acre estate has been open to day visitors since 1998, a year after Diana's death.
