Prince William and Prince Harry won’t be inheriting Princess Diana’s childhood home.
The ancestral home is Diana’s final resting place. The property is owned by her brother, Earl Charles Spencer, who currently lives there. Royal expert Richard Fitzwilliams told Fox News Digital that the home was always expected to be passed down to the next Earl Spencer. That is Prince William and Prince Harry’s cousin, Louis Spencer, Viscount Althorp.
The Spencer family follows primogeniture, which dictates that titles and properties go to the eldest male. Louis has three older sisters: Lady Kitty, Lady Eliza, and Lady Amelia.
“It would pass to the male heir even though Kitty Spencer is the current earl’s eldest child,” royal expert Richard Fitzwilliams explained. “No way would William and Harry get the property. Why on Earth would someone think they should?”
Fox News Digital reached out to the Althorp estate for comment.
Fitzwilliams’ claims came shortly after Vanity Fair reported that Althorp would be going to Louis. The 31-year-old is the son of Charles, Ninth Earl Spencer, and British model Victoria Aitken.
Royal expert Ian Pelham Turner told Fox News Digital that the inheritance rule goes back centuries.
“Do I agree with this method still being used in the 21st century?… Any rules that affect women through historical degradation are abhorrent to me. However, the wealthy classes still adhere to outdated practices.”
“In terms of Harry and William becoming the heirs to the Althorp estate, legally, they have no rights,” he noted. “But I think they will always be closely associated with the maintenance of the estate and Diana’s resting place.”
Louis, who grew up in South Africa, is an actor who lives a quiet life outside the public eye. According to reports, he has already been taking a hands-on approach in management meetings at the estate, supporting his father.
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Charles previously told the Mail on Sunday that he would be “totally relaxed” about his eldest child, Kitty, inheriting Althorp.
Still, “If I chose Kitty, it would be against all the tradition that goes with Althorp,” he admitted.
“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.”
In 2015, Kitty defended the tradition to Tatler magazine for a cover story.
“In general, I’m totally pro-gender equality,” the British model and aristocrat said at the time, as quoted by The Telegraph.
“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 shared. “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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The property has been the home of the Spencer family since 1508. Diana’s father inherited the title of Earl Spencer in 1975, and the family moved to the estate, People magazine reported.
Diana, who died in 1997 at age 36, is buried on a small island in the middle of the home’s Oval Lake, which is not accessible to the public. It allows William and Harry to visit their mother’s burial place privately.
“I think it’s very important for them to be there with her,” Charles, 61, told People. “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.”
Visitors are allowed to pay their respects at a memorial that was built in her honor.
Harry wrote about visiting Diana’s resting place on the 25th anniversary of her death in his memoir “Spare.” He described bringing his wife, Meghan Markle, for the first time.
“At long last, I was bringing the girl of my dreams home to meet mum,” he wrote, as quoted by People magazine.
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When Diana passed away, her two sons inherited many of her possessions and money. During Harry’s interview with Oprah Winfrey in 2021, the 40-year-old said that the money left to him by the late Princess of Wales helped him and Meghan move to California in 2020.
“And without that, we would not have been able to do this,” he said at the time. “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.”
