Earl Spencer’s wife Karen has shared a rare glimpse of Princess Diana’s final resting place on the Althorp Estate.
The grave of the late Princess of Wales is situated on a private island in the middle of Oval Lake on the Northampton estate where she grew up.
Although there is a memorial for the public to pay their respects, Diana’s grave is completely remote and can only be visited by family.
Earlier this week, Countess Spencer, who married Diana’s brother Charles in 2011, shared a photo of Oval Lake with her 74,000 Instagram followers.
Posting on her Instagram Stories, the mother-of-one wrote: ‘The oval in the fog at dusk…’
Countess Karen Spencer, 51, married Princess Diana’s brother Charles in 2011. The couple photographed in California in 2017.
Although the island where his sister-in-law is buried is not visible, the trees surrounding the lake are reflected in the calm, crystal-clear waters.
The countess appears to have been enjoying a walk around the sprawling 13,000-acre estate when she stopped to take the photo.
Former Canadian model Karen lives in the stunning Althorp estate with her husband Charles, 59, and daughter Lady Charlotte, 11.
Although the island where his sister-in-law is buried is not visible, the trees surrounding the lake are reflected in the calm, crystal-clear water.
In August 2023, it was reported that 36 oak trees had been planted around the path leading to the lake along with hundreds of white and pink water lilies.
The number of trees is said to represent each year in Diana’s life before she tragically died in a car accident in Paris in August 1997.
The island is situated in the center of the Spencer family’s 500-year-old ancestral estate, which spans 13,000 acres surrounding their 500-acre walled park.
In his 1998 book Althorp, Princess Diana’s brother Charles explained why the decision had been made to bury the royals on the island at the Oval, when so many members of the family had been buried in St. Mary the Virgin at Great Brington.
He reflected: “We all agreed that, with its beauty and tranquility, this was the place where Diana should be.”
Pictured: Princess Diana in June 1997, just two months before she tragically died in a car accident in Paris.
Pictured: The ‘temple’ at the Althorp estate in Northampton where the public can pay their respects to Diana.
In an interview with People magazine, Earl Spencer said he wanted his nephews, Prince William and Prince Harry, to have a private place to visit their late mother.
He added: “Fortunately, it’s very quiet here and they can come and go as they please whenever they want.” And it is very nice for me to know that.”
Unlike a church, Earl Spencer said the water of Loch Oval would “act as a buffer against the interventions of the mad and macabre, and the thick mud would present a new line of defence.”
The Althorp estate is also home to a public memorial to Princess Diana, where guests can pay their respects.
The Greek-inspired monument, which has been nicknamed “the Temple”, was purchased by the 5th Earl Spencer in the 1880s and features Diana’s name, silhouette and a quote from the princess.
On a tablet it reads: “Nothing makes me happier than trying to help the most vulnerable people in society.” It is a goal and an essential part of my life, a kind of destiny, whoever is in trouble can call me. I’ll run wherever they are.’
King Charles and Princess Diana photographed at Earl Spencer’s 21st birthday party at Althorp in 1985
Another tablet quotes Earl Spencer’s 1997 eulogy: “We give thanks for the life of a woman I am so proud to call my sister, the one and only, the complex, the extraordinary and irreplaceable Diana, whose beauty, both internal and external, it will never disappear. become extinct from our minds.’
In 2017, Earl Spencer revealed that several members of the public attempted to access Diana’s grave.
Speaking to BBC Radio 4, he explained: “We have had four attempted assaults on his body in the last 20 years and I am very pleased to have seen them all.”
“There are some weird people out there and keeping her here is the safest place.”