Bride Princess Diana's Family Houses

Today is the anniversary of the wedding of Lady Diana Spencer to Prince Charles. We are going to look at the Spencer family houses. This month Althorp, the family estate is open to the public for the first time. It has been the home of the Spencer family since 1508. The question of where exactly the Spencers were before Althorp is debated. The Spencer line were knights of Wormleighton but it is unclear who they were in antiquity. According to pedigree charts, the first Knight, Sir William Spencer who was born in 1387, was the son of Johannes de Witton. This is in conflict with the claim that they were from the le deSpencer family, which was disproved, but may prove they were ancient nobility as well as medieval. The manor of Witton was built when the Spencers were already named Spencer and in Althorp so it is not a house we will look at today. However, Wormleighton has Spencer history. Below is the Manor House.

The name Spencer means "steward" and the Spencers were trustees and tenants of the Wormleighton and Althorp lands before owning it outright. The house is a fine example of Tudor architecture. The family lived here until the English Civil War when they went on to Althorp (below).

Diana spent much of her childhood here. The next photos are from the Althorp website to detail the interiors.

We love what they have done with the desk at the foot of the bed in this room. We are currently collecting brass candlesticks just like this for our sister/daughter's wedding and we will probably have tons for sale in the late fall after the reception because we are using hundreds!

If you are visiting Althorp, let us know how it was!