Althorp

The definitive history of one of England's greatest houses: Althorp, where for five hundred years the Spencer family have made their home. Charles Spencer's house of Althorp in Northamptonshire is where he and his sister Princess Diana grew up, and where she is buried. In this rich history, Spencer traces the house's life from the sixteenth century through to Charles' sleepless nights there as a child and the estate's transformation into a site of global mourning. He weaves together the architecture, the story of how it amassed one of the largest private art collections in the country, the characters - by turns forbidding and elitist, warm and exuberant - and much more. The perfect guide to a great English house, this book also tells a broader story of the social and political vicissitudes that have shaped the Spencer family's wealth, taste and attitudes over the years.