Althorp House has been in the Spencer family for over five hundred years. There has been a house at Althorp since, at the latest, the beginning of the sixteenth century. Sir John Spencer acquired a 300-acre estate around Althorp in 1508; and his grandson, another Sir John, had made Althorp the principal Spencer home by the time of his death in 1586.

Previously, the family had lived primarily at Wormleighton, in Warwickshire, much of which was to be destroyed in the English Civil War.

Like many of the great ancestral houses of England, Althorp has evolved over the years, with various generations remodeling and adding to the property.

Althorp House is now open to the public and all the profits from visitor activity at Althorp are donated to the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund, a registered charity.

There is a minimum annual donation of £10,000. Since 1998, Althorp has generated over £860,000 for the fund.

 

All profits generated to Althorp from the Exhibition are given to the
Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund a registered charity (no. 1064238). There will be an annual donation of 10% of the retail sale price of all products bearing the Diana, Princess of Wales logo subject to a minimum of £10,000.

Photographs © Althorp