Althrop House and Princess Diana's Memorial

I signed up for a bus trip on the military base to visit Althorp Estate to see the ancestral home of Princess Diana. Princess Diana is also buried on the grounds of the estate. My husband is not a Royal watcher so he decided to stay home and spend the day with the children:). So I went on my own along with 60 strangers:)



View from the bus window as we drove up, impressive







Althorp House - right outside where the children's play house and soccer pitch, sorta funny to see this grand house with kids equipment in the front yard:)

Underneath the yellow stone is the original Tudor brick. This house is over 500 years old.







The back of the house and the back yard! NICE!!






The stables which have now been converted into the Diana Memorial, gift shop and tea room









The island that Princess Diana is supposedly buried on. No one is allowed on the island.











Across from the island is this large memorial for Princess Diana where people still lay flowers









Diana's words in one of her last speeches before dying in the car crash











Earl Spencer, Diana's brother, words spoken at her funeral. In the gift shop you can actually buy the entire eulogy in a special leather bound book.
I got the feeling he was capitalizing on this speech as it was throughout the grounds:(



After touring the outside of the house we were given a tour of the home. No pictures were allowed so I am scanning a few of the post cards I bought to show you the interior below. The current Lord Spencer the 9th Earl (Diana's brother) has been recently updating the home and the rooms are in great condition.

First we were taken into the State Dining room and we had a sit down real English Tea served on the Spencer china, we were told. We were served sandwiches with the crust cut off:), scones with jam and clotted cream and a dessert tray. Drinks were either tea or coffee. After tea we went on the tour of the inside of the house. It truly is a lovely house. It was stressed by the guides that this is a lived in home and they told many stories of the family using various rooms.

The grand staircase leading up to the picture gallery.










One of the many dining rooms--there were at least three. This table could seat 42 guests.









Princess of Wales bedroom named in honor of Princess Alexandra wife of Edward the 7th








The Diana Museum which house 28 of her most famous outfits; condolence books are at the far end and came from around the world. There were also films, mementos from her childhood and letters, dairies as an adult. Nothing new was revealed here. If you were a huge Princess Diana fan this might be a fascinating exhibit:)




A picture of ME outside the front door to prove I really was there:)










On the bus ride home I found out I won a prize for answering the most questions about Princess Diana. Before you go thinking I am a nut for the Princess, I used my Android phone to find most of the answers on the internet:) My husband said I cheated:(, however nothing was said about not doing that and I told the people around me what I was doing and no one complained so I kept the gift:) There were 14 questions and I answered 13 of them. The one I missed (couldn't find the answer too) was how did Camilla Parker describe Diana? Any one know this answer?

So what was the prize, you might be wondering....

Commemorative box of Yankee candles celebrating Prince William and Catherine wedding. I didn't even know you could buy Yankee candles here!!!










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