Princess Diana died on Aug. 31, 1997, at the age of 36, and she was buried at Althorp Park in North Hampshire, England, the place where she grew up. Her older brother, Earl Spencer, decided that it will be better for her to be buried here, instead of their family’s vault, which is located inside the local church, because the place is more secured.
They believed that Althorp is the best final resting place for the Princess of Wales due to the privacy that it offers, and she will be protected from people with bad intentions as well. Her burial site is an oval island that sits in the middle of a man-made lake in the 13,000-acre estate. It was lined with 36 oak trees that were planted to represent each year of her life until she passed away.
Spencer’s decision for Princess Diana to be laid to rest in Althorp proved to be a good move because he said in 2017 that in the last 20 years, four breaks-ins have already been recorded so far, as per The Telegraph. Apparently, gravediggers have been attempting to open her tomb to steal valuables and even the princess’ body itself.
In any case, people flock to Althorp Gardens, and they lay flowers to honor the princess during their visits. However, there is a theory that Princess Diana was buried somewhere else, and the island where a memorial temple for visitors was even erected is only a decoy to lure people away from her real burial site.
Conspiracy theorists think that she was really laid to rest in the Spencer family’s crypt, which was the original gravesite set for Princess Diana. The burial chamber was built inside the church in a village where the population is less than 300.
According to Daily Star, theorists stated that her body was moved from Althorp to the crypt where her father’s body also lies, which is in St. Mary’s Church in Great Brington, and this was kept a secret because the Spencer family fears that due to the huge media and public attention, the village would be disturbed as people around the world would surely come to see the late princess’ tomb. This suspicions about her real gravesite emerged after people noticed many unexplained events in the small town on the night of the burial on Sept. 6, 1997.
Based on the rumors, witnesses saw workers going to the church and digging a hole on the floor of the heavily guarded mausoleum that was fitted with an alarm system and a 6-meter high fence. The hole was supposedly for Princess Diana, and once her coffin was in place, it was resealed.
At that time, pictures of fresh cement on the spot where they said the princess was buried had circulated. Observers also noted the security system, which includes motion sensors and a notice that warns intruders about the area having alarms — something that made them even more convinced that Princess Diana was moved there.
To put an end to the rumors, retired Rev. Ian Cundy released Princess Diana’s burial certificate, which indicates that she was buried on the island at Althorp in Northamptonshire. Rev. David MacPherson, the vicar of Great Brington, further shot down the tales by giving an explaination to the wet concrete that people saw at Spencer’s family crypt.
“The wet concrete around the family vault can be explained,” The Irish Times quoted Rev. McPherson as saying in 1998. “After Diana's death it was opened in preparation, and then closed when the earl changed his mind.”
Despite these explanations to shut the bizarre rumors surrounding Princess Diana’s real gravesite, many still believe that her body is not in Althorp but in St. Mary’s Church. Twenty-two years after her death, this theory still continues to go around.
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