Princess Diana at Home: 20 Photos of the Icon From Childhood to Palace Life
The People’s Princess spent plenty of time in the public eye—see how she spent her moments out of the spotlight
“I am not a political figure, I am a humanitarian figure, and always have been and always will be,” Princess Diana said in 1997, months before her tragic death. Diana, who was 20 when she married King Charles in 1981, embraced that mentality throughout her time as a royal, devoting herself to causes that ranged from mental health to the AIDS epidemic. It was Diana’s kindness and care for others that led Prime Minister Tony Blair to dub her The People’s Princess.
It’s no surprise, then, that the Princess of Wales was a devoted parent and favored playful, colorful interiors that matched her warm disposition. Below, we’ve rounded up photos of Diana at her royal residences.
Photo: PA Images via Getty Images1/20A future princess is born
Lady Diana Spencer was born on July 1, 1961, at her family home in Norfolk, England, to the Lord and Lady Althorp. She is pictured here at the property on the occasion of her first birthday. Known as Park House, the 10-bedroom Victorian dwelling was built in 1863 on the grounds of Sandringham Estate in Norfolk, England. Diana’s mother, Frances, was also born in the historic abode.
Photo: PA Images via Getty Images2/20Park House tot
A two-year-old Diana poses on an intricately carved wooden bench inside Park House in this 1963 photo. “It was the best place to grow up; it was beautiful and it was big,” her younger brother, Charles Spencer, said of the home in the book Diana: The Portrait. “There was a huge garden and a swimming pool and a tennis court. It was a very lovely environment for anyone to grow up in; we didn’t realize how lucky we were.”
Photo: PA Images via Getty Images3/20A bucolic escape
Diana’s parents divorced in 1967. Two years later, Frances remarried and bought an 18th-century farmhouse on the Scottish island of Seil. Alongside a Shetland pony, 13-year-old Diana is pictured at the royal property (known as Ardencaple House) in this 1974 photo. “She loved animals when she was a child,” her mother told biographer Rosalind Coward. “She liked the miniature Shetlands I had because they were small.”
Photo: Central Press/Hulton Archive/Getty Images4/20Althorp House
When Diana was 14, she and her immediate family moved into Althorp House in Northamptonshire. The 13,000-acre estate has been owned by the Spencer family for over 500 years. Diana strolls its grounds at age 19 in this 1980 photo. Three years prior, the property was the fateful site of her first encounter with future husband, Prince Charles—at the time, he was dating Diana’s sister, Sarah.
Photo: Tim Graham Photo Library via Getty Images5/20Honeymooning in the Highlands
Diana is pictured here with King Charles standing in front of the River Dee during their 1981 honeymoon on the grounds of Balmoral Castle, a royal retreat in the Scottish Highlands. The estate, which is also where Queen Elizabeth II lived out her final days, boasts 50,000 acres of breathtaking natural landscapes as well as manicured gardens. The newlyweds kicked off their honeymoon at Broadlands, the English home of the Earl and Countess Mountbatten of Burma, where Queen Elizabeth (then a princess) and Prince Philip had also honeymooned 34 years prior. From there, Diana and Charles flew to Gibraltar for a 12-day Mediterranean cruise aboard the Royal Yacht Britannia before ending their vacation at Balmoral.
Photo: Tim Graham Photo Library via Getty Images6/20Raising a royal family
Diana plays with Prince William at their home inside London’s Kensington Palace in this 1983 snapshot. They resided in apartments eight and nine inside the Jacobean mansion, which has been owned by the royal family since William III bought it in 1689. The Princess of Wales tapped South African designer Dudley Poplak to outfit the three-floor dwelling with elegant yet cheerful decor, including lots of pastels and floral prints.
Photo: Tim Graham Photo Library via Getty Images7/20Portraits at the palace
Here, the royal couple pose for a picture in their Kensington Palace drawing room in 1983. Diana opted for a yellow color scheme for the gathering space, which was anchored by a large floral area rug. Official meetings were often held in the drawing room, so furnishing for the area leaned more classic and antique than the rest of the residence.
Photo: Anwar Hussein/Getty Images8/20A day at the park
The then Prince and Princess of Wales sit in the garden outside Kensington Palace in this 1983 photo as an 18-month-old Prince William wanders the grounds. “What [Diana] loved above all at Kensington was to walk round the park while hiding her identity in drab clothes,” an insider told Kensington Palace author Tom Quinn. “She’d set off on her own, wearing dark glasses and sit on a bench by the Round Pond, just watching passersby.”
Photo: Tim Graham Photo Library via Getty Images9/20The butter-yellow drawing room palette
Charles and Diana show off another angle of their Kensington Palace drawing room in this 1985 photo. The tall, stately marble fireplace was adorned with colorful figurines while matching round tables dressed in fringed polka dot tablecloths incorporated the pale yellow of the room’s walls.
Photo: Tim Graham Photo Library via Getty Images10/20Diana the pianist
Diana and her two young sons sit at the grand piano in their Kensington Palace home in this 1985 photo. The drawing room corner was decorated with a gilded mirror and a collection of family photos. The princess was a talented pianist who reportedly liked to play Bach in her moments of downtime.
Photo: Tim Graham Photo Library via Getty Images11/20The frilly and fun sitting room
In this 1985 photo, Lady Di works at the desk in her vibrant Kensington Palace sitting room, which doubled as her office. The space was decorated with feminine furnishings, including a pink sofa, baby blue ruffled drapes, and matching pink-and-blue wallpaper. The desk and customized yellow school trunk pictured here were later displayed in a Buckingham Palace exhibit to honor the 20th anniversary of the princess’s 1997 death.
Photo: Tim Graham Photo Library via Getty Images12/20Sweet nursery
Princess Diana helps Prince William work on a puzzle at their Kensington Palace apartment in 1985. The nursery, pictured here, made up the entire third floor of the home. Diana commissioned luxury children’s design brand Dragons of Walton Street to design whimsical furnishings for the sweet space, which featured a strawberry-printed carpet.
Photo: Tim Graham Photo Library via Getty Images13/20Diana the fashion icon
In this 1986 snap, Princess Diana selects fabrics for her royal tour wardrobe with the help of fashion designers David and Elizabeth Emanuel, who also designed the royal’s wedding dress. The trio are gathered in front of the white marble fireplace in Diana’s sitting room, where five years later she secretly recorded the tapes that became the basis for journalist Andrew Morton’s controversial 1992 book, Diana: Her True Story.
Photo: Tim Graham Photo Library via Getty Images14/20A seat at the table
Diana sits at the dining room table at her Kensington Palace home during a 1986 meeting. Dramatic velvet drapes and bamboo chairs with matching red upholstery stood out against the room’s beige walls, which were decorated with historic portraits for a more traditional look than some of the princess’s other domestic spaces.
Photo: Tim Graham Photo Library via Getty Images15/20Home at Highgrove
The Prince and Princess of Wales also maintained a residence at Highgrove House in Gloucestershire, where they are pictured here in 1986. Charles bought the 18th-century Georgian neoclassical dwelling in 1980. As with her Kensington Palace quarters, Diana hired Poplak to decorate the nine-bedroom mansion ahead of their 1981 wedding. The interior decorator once told the Times that the project was “the most important assignment I have ever had.” Per the outlet, he gave the home’s interiors a youthful color palette that included lime green and aquamarine.
Photo: Tim Graham Photo Library via Getty Images16/20Resting in the garden
In this 1986 image, Diana relaxes by a sundial in Highgrove House’s garden. Though it was a beautiful setting, the princess reportedly hated the country home. “She referred to her trips to their Gloucestershire home as ‘a return to prison’ and rarely invited her family or friends,” Morton wrote in Diana: Her True Story. “She feels that Camilla [Parker Bowles] lives just down the road and regardless of any effort she puts into the house, she never feels it is her home,” Diana’s longtime friend James Gilbey told the biographer.
Photo: Tim Graham Photo Library via Getty Images17/20Little princes
Princess Diana plays with Harry and William in this 1986 photo taken at Highgrove House. The young royal was known for being a particularly attentive parent. “We have an obligation to care for our children in ways which clearly show our children we value them. They, in their turn, will then learn how to value themselves,” she said in 1993.
Photo: Tim Graham Photo Library via Getty Images18/20Family portrait at Kensington
The family poses at their Kensington Palace home in this 1986 portrait. Despite their atypical circumstances, Diana tried to give William and Harry a normal childhood, “refusing a traditional royal upbringing,” as Coward wrote in Diana: The Portrait. Charity executive Sir Roger Singleton told the biographer that “one of the nice things about going to Kensington Palace was the general racing around of the kids and the normality of that…. To have them racing around and taking a normal interest and hurtling sort of headlong into the door, I always found very refreshing.”
Photo: Tim Graham Photo Library via Getty Images19/20Hands-on mothering
In this 1986 photo, the princess walks with William and his pony on the grounds of Highgrove. Diana’s involved approach to parenting clearly stuck with her sons, who were only 15 and 12 years old when she died. “I see my mum’s legacy when I look at my own children every day,” Prince Harry said in 2022.
Photo: Tim Graham Photo Library via Getty Images20/20Princess in pink
When Diana and Charles separated in 1992, the princess continued to reside at Kensington Palace. Charles stayed primarily at Highgrove, where the princess is pictured here in 1986. The royals were officially divorced in 1996. “People think that at the end of the day a man is the only answer. Actually, a fulfilling job is better for me,” Diana said in 1995.
