Firestarters have launched an arson attack on a farmhouse at Princess Diana‘s home Althorp House, leaving her family devastated.
The late princess’s brother Charles Spencer revealed news of the blaze at the Northamptonshire estate on X, formerly Twitter.
Diana had lived at Althorp from the time of her parents’ divorce to her marriage to the Prince of Wales, now King Charles, in 1981.
A private island situated in the centre of Althorp’s Oval Lake is where she was buried after her death aged 36 in a Paris car crash in August 1997.
Earl Spencer today shared pictures of the fire damage, commenting: ‘Stunned to learn that one of @AlthorpHouse’s farmhouses – fortunately, unoccupied at the time – was apparently burnt down by vandals last night.’
He thanked Northamptonshire Fire Brigade for ‘doing their very best’, adding: ‘So very sad that anyone would think this a fun thing to do.’
More details about the destruction of the property have been provided by the estate’s long-standing head gamekeeper Adey Greeno.
He posted on X: ‘The farmhouse that we lost to a deliberate act of vandalism last night has now had to be razed to the ground for safety reasons.
Charles Spencer shared this image of a blaze at an Althorp farmhouse in Northamptonshire
The brother of the late Diana, Princess of Wales, said that fortunately the property was unoccupied at the time of the fire
The late Diana, Princess of Wales, lived at Althorp before marrying Charles in 1981
‘So sad. The world we live in.’
Wellwishers have been offering sympathy online in response to the news, including comments such as the broadcaster and author the Rev Richard Coles telling Earl Spencer: ‘That’s awful, sorry to hear it.’
Other comments have included ‘This is so sad’, ‘I hope they catch whoever did this’, ‘What is wrong with people?’ and ‘This is sickening’.
Stately home Althorp House has been the Spencer seat since the 16th century.
The 13,000-acre Althorp Estate was the childhood home of Diana and Charles, 61, and their siblings Lady Jane Fellowes, 68, and Lady Sarah McCorquodale, 70 – and it remains Charles’s home today.
While Diana’s gravesite cannot be reached by members of the public, Althorp is home to a memorial known as the ‘temple’ that can be visited by those who do not belong to the family.
Opened in July 1998, the memorial at the 500-year-old ancestral estate is visited by approximately 150,000 people a year.
In August 2023, it was reported that 36 oak trees had been planted on the path leading to the lake, as well as hundreds of white water lilies and roses.
Althorp’s head gamekeeper Adey Greeno has also shared photos following the blaze
He revealed that the farmhouse was having to be razed to the ground due to the arson attack
Earl Spencer, pictured here in March 2024, told today of his sadness at last night’s blaze
Charles Spencer and his sister Diana are pictured here as children in 1968
Princess Diana (pictured) was buried on the private island in the middle of Oval Lake, which forms part of Althorp Estate, after her death at the age of 36
Earl Charles Spencer (pictured) still lives on Althorp Estate in Northamptonshire where the Spencer children grew up
Earl Spencer and Althorp’s head gamekeeper Adey Greeno revealed details of last night’s blaze on social media, with wellwishers offering their sympathy and sadness in response
The number of trees are said to represent each year of Diana’s life.
In his 1998 book ‘Althorp’, Charles discussed the decision to bury Diana on the island in Oval Lake – when many other family members had been laid to rest at St Mary the Virgin church in Great Brington.
Charles reflected: ‘We all agreed that, with its beauty and tranquility, this was the place for Diana to be.’
This is a breaking news story. More to follow…
