When Princess Diana died, her sons Prince William and Prince Harry inherited most of her £13million fortune, including her possessions, jewellery and money.
The money was placed in trusts and invested, which resulted in the fortune swelling to more than £20million by the time they were of age.
But there is one family heirloom which didn’t form part of her inheritance due to a centuries-old practice.
The Grade I listed Althorp Estate in Northamptonshire, where Diana grew up and is buried, has been owned by the Spencer family for more than 500 years.
Diana spent childhood holidays at the 5,463-hectare estate before moving in permanently at the age of 14.
The estate will go to William and Harry’s cousin Louis Spencer, Viscount Althorp, the son of Diana’s brother, Charles Spencer and his first wife, Victoria Lockwood.
Despite the fact that Louis Spencer, who grew up in South Africa, has an elder sister, Lady Kitty Spencer, he will inherit the title and estimated £100million estate.
This is because of the centuries-old practice of male primogeniture, by which an aristocrat’s title and estate passes to the eldest son, rather than the eldest child.
When Princess Diana died, her sons Prince William and Prince Harry inherited most of her £13million fortune, including her possessions, jewellery and money
The estate will go to William and Harry’s cousin Louis Spencer, Viscount Althorp, the son of Diana’s brother, Charles Spencer and his first wife, Victoria Lockwood. Viscount Althorp and Harry are pictured in 2018
The Grade I listed Althorp Estate in Northamptonshire, where Diana grew up and is buried, has been owned by the Spencer family for more than 500 years
Over the years politicians have waded in on the controversial topic of primogeniture.
When he was prime minister, David Cameron said the ‘idea that a younger son should become monarch instead of an elder daughter, simply because he is a man, just isn’t acceptable any more’.
Earl Spencer, 58, however, is not inclined to embrace the ‘changing attitudes’ and has spoken out to say he will keep to tradition and choose Louis as his heir.
In 2015 he said: ‘If I chose Kitty it would be against all the tradition that goes with Althorp. 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. It is still intact. If you go around the chateaux of the Loire or whatever, they are empty.
‘Everything gets split equally through the generations and you end up with a beautiful building with one nice tapestry in it. The whole idea of primogeniture was to keep it together.’
Perhaps it is easy to see why the Earl favours keeping the estate ‘together’.
William and Harry’s inheritance was placed in trusts and invested, which resulted in the fortune swelling to more than £20million by the time they were of age
Earl Spencer and William are pictured at the funeral ceremony of Princess Diana
Despite the fact that Louis Spencer (pictured) who grew up in South Africa, has an elder sister, Lady Kitty Spencer, he will inherit the title and estimated £100million estate
He has seven children from three marriages, meaning dividing the estate could become a tricky prospect.
Despite their complicated family dynamic, Louis enjoys a close relationship with his sisters.
He walked his eldest sister Kitty down the aisle during her Italian wedding, instead of their father, who controversially did not attend.
Their close sibling relationship is in part due to the fact that they enjoyed a privileged but private upbringing in Cape Town, where Earl Spencer and Victoria moved in 1995 to raise their children out of the public eye.
The couple divorced in December 1997, months after Diana’s death, and Charles moved back to the UK shortly afterwards.
It is a topic that continues to rear its head, leading the Daily Telegraph to dub Louis the ‘reluctant poster boy of male primogeniture’.
Kitty, who married a fashion tycoon 30 years her senior in 2021, discussed being overlooked in the order of inheritance in an interview with Town & Country magazine.
‘Primogeniture can be a tricky topic, because as times are changing, attitudes are as well,’ she said.
Lady Kitty Spencer, Victoria Aitken and Louis Spencer, Viscount Althorp, attend Tatler’s English Roses 2017
Lady Eliza Spencer, Louis Spencer, Viscount Althorp and Victoria Aitken attend the wedding of Prince Harry to Meghan Markle
What is male primogeniture?
Primogeniture is preference in inheritance that is given by law, custom, or usage to the eldest son and his issue.
In exceptional cases, primogeniture may prescribe such preferential inheritance to the line of the eldest daughter.
The motivation for such a practice has usually been to keep the estate of the deceased, or some part of it, whole and intact.
The Royal Family brought to an end the system of primogeniture that had dictated the line of succession since 1701.
Under the Succession to the Crown Act 2013, princes no longer take precedence over their sisters.
It means Princess Charlotte is ahead of her brother Prince Louis in the line of succession.
‘We’ve grown up understanding that it’s Louis to inherit, and Louis will do an incredible job.’
In the December 2015 issue of Tatler, Kitty said: ‘I’m totally pro-gender equality. But I’m quite happy that that’s [going to be] my brother’s responsibility. I just think it’s the correct way.
‘I like that the house stays within the same family, with the same surname,’ she continued.
‘I wouldn’t want it any other way for the Spencers. And I just know my brother is going to do an impeccable job.’
Diana’s grave is located on a small island in the middle of the property’s Oval Lake and is not accessible to the public.
Harry wrote in his 2023 memoir, Spare, about visiting the site on the 25th anniversary of Diana’s death in 2022, bringing his wife Meghan for the first time.
‘As they took a boat across the lake, Harry said 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.’
Though Harry said the visit was admittedly not ‘easy,’ he expressed his desire to share his mother’s final resting place with Meghan, writing: ‘At long last, I was bringing the girl of my dreams home to meet Mum.’
Last year, Daily Mail reported that Harry stayed with his uncle at Althorp House during his trip to the UK after going to the funeral of Diana’s brother-in-law, Lord Robert Fellowes.
Royal expert Richard Fitzwilliams told the Daily Mail that Harry staying at Althorp ‘emphasises his links with his mother’s family’ – far more so than with his father King Charles III as he remains estranged from most of the Royal Family.
The Prince’s closeness to his mother’s side of the family has been maintained despite his move to America.
Earl Spencer has publicly defended Harry in the media and on social media, showing his support for the prince during his legal battles and other challenges.
On what would have been the late Princess of Wales’s 60th birthday, William and Harry’s aunts and uncle came together in 2021 for the unveiling of Diana’s statue at Kensington Palace.
An aerial view of Althorp House, home of the aristocratic Spencer family
Last year, the Daily Mail reported that Harry stayed with his uncle at Althorp House during his trip to the UK after going to the funeral of Diana’s brother-in-law, Lord Robert Fellowes
The Spencer family tree, showing the family’s relationship to Harry and William
Meanwhile it has been announced that Diana’s former butler, Paul Burrell, is set to release a third ‘intimate’ memoir, promising to reveal stories he felt he couldn’t share while the late Queen was still alive.
His book The Royal Insider – with a picture of himself and Diana on the cover – is due out in September.
The princes are now bracing themselves for what he might reveal as he vows to ‘speak candidly about the tensions that simmered’ during his time at the Palace – ‘including the breakdown of Charles and Diana’s marriage and his own complex relationship with Princes William and Harry’.
Despite Harry’s assertion that he had been cut off from his family financially after stepping down from the Firm, he said that the money left to him from Diana helped him and Meghan move to California after they stepped back from their royal roles in 2020.
‘I brought what my mother left me,’ he said in the couple’s 2021 sit-down with Oprah Winfrey.
‘And without that, we would not have been able to do this, so touching back on what my mother would think of this, I think she saw it coming. I certainly felt her presence throughout this whole process.’
