By Katherine Tinsley
11:44pm PDT, Aug 11, 2025
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Prince Harry and
Prince William inherited much of
Princess Diana's fortune, but the estranged siblings won't be taking over the late Lady Spencer's childhood home, Althorp Estate.
Keep reading to find out why the property is going to someone else…
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Princess Diana's brother, Charles Spencer, manages Althorp, the ancestral home of the Spencer family since 1508. The estate will go to his oldest son Louis Spencer — not his oldest child, daughter Kitty Spencer, because she's female. In 2015, Charles told the Mail on Sunday that he was "totally relaxed" about the idea of handing over Althorp to Kitty, though it was unlikely that would be the case. "If I chose Kitty, it would be against all the tradition that goes with Althorp," he said. "It's just the way it is. I get the problems with it as a concept. I also get the strengths of it having worked to date."
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The Spencers adhere to the custom of primogeniture, which dictates that titles and property are passed along to the oldest son. "I'm totally pro-gender equality. But I'm quite happy that [Althorp is going to be] my brother's responsibility. I just think it's the correct way," Kitty Spencer told Tatler in 2015. "I like that the house stays within the same family, with the same surname. … I wouldn't want it any other way for the Spencers. And I just know my brother is going to do an impeccable job."
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While Prince William and Prince Harry never lived at Althorp, their mother, Princess Diana, was buried on the grounds. They visit her gravesite from time to time. "I think it's very important for them to be there with her," Charles Spencer told People of his nephews. "It is, luckily, very tranquil here, and they can come and go as they wish whenever they want. And that's very lovely for me to know that."
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In his memoir Spare, Prince Harry opened up about taking Meghan Markle to Princess Diana's gravesite. The Duke of Sussex shared that he "gazed around at Althorp's rolling fields and ancient trees, the thousands of green acres where my mother grew up, and where, though things weren't perfect, she'd known some peace." The moment wasn't "easy," but "at long last, I was bringing the girl of my dreams home to meet mum," he wrote.
