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.
‘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.
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.’
has contacted Northamptonshire Police for comment on last night’s fire.