Charles Spencer shares beautiful video of Princess Diana's final resting place
Charles Spencer has shared a serene video via Instagram of the "tranquil" spot where his beloved sister, the late Princess Diana, was laid to rest.
The Princess of Wales was buried on an island in the centre of the Oval Lake in Althorp Park's Pleasure Garden at her family's ancestral home of Althorp House. Nearby is an arboretum containing trees planted by the Princess's sons, Prince William and Prince Harry.
The Earl captioned the video: "Beautiful birdsong down by the Round Oval Lake at Althorp House just now."
Princess Diana was not buried in the family vault in the nearby village of Great Brington, as was the original plan. 20 generations of Spencers over five hundred years had been buried in Spencer Chapel, but her brother decided in the interests of security that she be buried on the island.
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The BBC reported at the time: "[Earl Spencer] was concerned about public safety and security and wanted his sister to be buried where her grave could be looked after properly and visited in privacy by her sons."
In 1998, he said the island would "act as a buffer against the interventions of the insane and ghoulish, the thick mud presenting a further line of defence. We all agreed that, with its beauty and tranquility, this was the place for Diana to be."
While the commital was private, the Princess also had a public funeral at Westminster Abbey.
Prince Harry wrote about taking his wife, Meghan, to his mother's final resting place in his memoir, Spare. He wrote: "I led Meg up the path, around a hedge, through the labyrinth. There it was, looming: the grayish white oval stone. No visit to this place was ever easy, but this one... Twenty-fifth anniversary. And Meg's first time. At long last I was bringing the girl of my dreams home to meet mum.
"We hesitated, hugging, and then I went first. I placed flowers on the grave. Meg gave me a moment, and I spoke to my mother in my head, told her I missed her, asked her for guidance and clarity. Feeling that Meg might also want a moment, I went around the hedge, scanned the pond. When I came back, Meg was kneeling, eyes shut, palms against the stone. I asked, as we walked back to the boat, what she’d prayed for. Clarity, she said. And guidance."
The Prince also stayed at Althorp during his most recent visit to the UK as he joined Prince William at their uncle Lord Robert Fellowes' funeral at St Mary's Church in Snettisham, Norfolk.
Althorp House has also had a dramatic weekend, with a fire started by what the Earl described as "youths in balaclavas" on an empty industrial unit on the estate.
