Why Princess Diana’s Gravesite Where Prince Harry Took Meghan Markle Is in a Remote Location Instead of the Spencer Family Vault

More than two decades after Princess Diana‘s death, most people remember where they were or exactly what they were doing when they heard that the People’s Princess died following a car crash in Paris. In the years since, there have been some questions about the late princess’s final resting place. Well, she is buried in a location separate from the Spencer family vault and there’s a reason for it.

Here’s more on that and what Prince Harry said happened when he took Meghan Markle to his mother’s gravesite for the first time.

Where Princess Diana is buried

The late princess was laid to rest at the Althorp Estate in Northamptonshire. Althorp is the family home of Diana’s brother Charles Spencer, 9th Earl Spencer who inherited the property when their father John Spencer died in 1992. Princess Diana’s gravesite is located on an island that is next to an ornamental lake (called The Oval) within Althorp Park’s Pleasure Garden. The burial site is only accessible by boat and off-limits to the public. However, there is a dedicated temple on the estate where the Earl allows people to leave floral tributes.

Following the princess’s death, the plan was to have her buried at the Great Brington Church in the Spencer family vault where John Spencer and several of Diana’s other relatives are. However, that plan was abandoned when the family expressed concerns about the security of her grave. They were also worried that the church could be overwhelmed with how many visitors would show up wanting to pay their respects.

Someone who reportedly hasn’t paid their respects at the burial site is King Charles. In 2001, Diana’s brother called out then-Prince Charles for never visiting his ex-wife’s grave. He told the Daily Mail that Charles always had an open invitation to visit but “has yet to take up that invitation.” A Palace spokesperson released a statement saying that “The matter of whether Charles has visited [Princess Diana]’s grave is a personal and private matter for him.”

What happened when Prince Harry took Meghan to Diana’s grave?

Princes William and Harry on the other hand have been to their mother’s gravesite several times over the years, including for private memorials like the one in 2017 to mark 20 years since her death. That was held on what would have been Princess Diana’s 56th birthday.

In his memoir Spare, the Duke of Sussex revealed that he brought the Duchess of Sussex to the gravesite at Althorp for the first time in 2022. During their visit, the prince left his wife alone for a private moment with her mother-in-law who she never got to meet.

“When I returned, [Meghan] was on her knees with her eyes closed and her palms flat against the stone,” Harry recalled, adding that the duchess was asking the late princess for “clarity and guidance.”