Princess Diana’s Childhood Home Was So Big That Her Royal Residence Looked Like a Downgrade
Many people dream of being a royal and living in luxurious palaces. However, for Princess Diana, huge mansions were already a part of her life long before she met Prince Charles. In fact, Diana’s childhood home was even bigger than her residence as a royal, making the latter look like a downgrade.
Princess Diana’s childhood home was the magnificent Althorp House
Diana grew up in a family of British nobility. Her father was John Spencer, Viscount Althorp. Meanwhile, her mother was Frances Roche, the daughter of a baron.
Diana’s parents divorced when she was young, and she continued living with her father at the Spencers’ family home, Althorp House.
Althorp House is located on a ground spanning 13,000 acres. The house itself, according to House Beautiful, boasts 100,000 square feet. It also contains about 90 rooms and has a chapel, a library, and a gallery full of portraits of past Spencer family members. On the ground is also a gatehouse and stable.
As an adult, Diana did move out of Althorp to live in an apartment in London with roommates.
Princess Diana lived in Kensington Palace as a royal
When Diana married Charles in 1981, she moved into Kensington Palace. While Kensington Palace itself is extremely big, most royals who live there are just given a small section to call their own.
Diana and Charles resided in Apartments 8 and 9. It should also be noted that “apartments” at Kensington Palace are not the same as flats that many people are familiar with. In fact, Diana and Charles’ place had three stories and many rooms for them and their sons. According to a Time article from 1988, Prince William and Prince Harry had a two-room nursery on the top floor. They even had their own bathroom with small toilets and a washbasin that are fit for children.
The exact size of Diana and Charles’ residence is not known, but based on this article from Hello!, it’s clear that Apartments 8 and 9 do not live up to the size of Althorp.
Nevertheless, Diana and Charles had a country house as well – Highgrove House. According to Gloucestershire Live, it has about 28,000 square feet and 19 rooms.
After Diana and Charles divorced in 1996, she was allowed to continue living at Kensington Palace. However, nowadays, the apartments are used offices and meeting rooms.
Prince William and Kate Middleton live at Kensington Palace too
While Harry has moved across the ocean to California, William and his wife, Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge live just steps away from Diana’s old residence.
William, Kate and their children occupy Apartment 1A, which has four stories and over 20 rooms. It also includes an elevator, a gym, and several staff bedrooms. There is a walled garden space as well.
Meanwhile, Harry used to live in Kensington Palace as an adult for some time. He resided in Nottingham Cottage, a small house near Diana’s old apartments.
