Earl Spencer's wife Karen shares a rare glimpse of Princess Diana's final resting place at the Althorp estate

Earl Spencer's wife Karen has shared a rare glimpse of Princess Diana's final resting place at the Althorp estate.

The late Princess of Wales's grave is located on a private island in the middle of Oval Lake on the Northampton estate where she grew up.

Although there is a memorial where the public can pay their respects, Diana's grave is completely remote and can only be visited by family.

Earlier this week, Countess Spencer – who married Diana's brother Charles in 2011 – shared a photo of Oval Lake with her 74,000 Instagram followers.

Taking to her Instagram Stories, the mother-of-one wrote: “The oval in the mist at dusk…”

Although the island where her sister-in-law is buried is not visible, the trees surrounding the lake are depicted reflecting in the crystal clear and calm water.

It appears the Countess was enjoying a stroll around the sprawling 13,000-acre estate when she stopped to take the photo.

Canadian-born former model Karen lives on the impressive Althorp estate with her husband, Charles, 59, and their 11-year-old daughter Lady Charlotte.

Although the island where her sister-in-law is buried is not visible, the trees surrounding the lake are depicted reflecting in the crystal clear and calm water.

In August 2023, it was reported that 36 oak trees had been planted around the path leading to the lake, along with hundreds of white water lilies and roses.

The number of trees represents every year in Diana's life before she tragically died in a car accident in Paris in August 1997.

The island is at the center of the Spencer family's 500-year-old ancestral estate, which extends over 13,000 hectares surrounding the 500-hectare walled park.

In his 1998 book Althorp, Princess Diana's brother Charles discussed why the decision was made to bury the royal family on the island in the Oval – when so many relatives had been laid to rest at St Mary the Virgin Church in Great Brington.

He reflected: 'We all agreed that this, with its beauty and tranquility, was the place where Diana should be.'

Pictured: Princess Diana in June 1997, just two months before she was tragically killed in a car crash in Paris

Pictured: The 'temple' on the Althorp estate in Northampton, where the public can pay their respects to Diana

In an interview with People magazine, Earl Spencer said he wanted his cousins ​​Prince William and Prince Harry to have a private place to visit their late mother.

He added: 'It's fortunately very quiet here and they can come and go as they please, whenever they want. And I really like to know that.'

Unlike a church, Earl Spencer said that the waters of Oval Lake would 'act as a buffer against the interventions of the lunatic and the ghoulish, the thick mud providing a further line of defence'.

The Althorp estate also houses a public memorial to Princess Diana, where guests can pay their respects.

The Greek-inspired monument – dubbed 'the Temple' – was purchased by the fifth Earl Spencer in the 1880s and features the name, Diana's silhouette and a quote from the princess.

A tablet reads: 'Nothing brings me more happiness than trying to help the most vulnerable people in society. It is a purpose and an essential part of my life, a kind of destiny, anyone in need can call on me. Wherever they are, I will come running.”

King Charles and Princess Diana pictured at Earl Spencer's 21st birthday party in Althorp in 1985

Another tablet quotes Earl Spencer's 1997 eulogy: “We give thanks for a woman's life. I am so proud to call my sister, the unique, the complex, the extraordinary and irreplaceable Diana, whose beauty both internally and externally will never change. disappear from our minds.'

In 2017, Earl Spencer revealed that several members of the public had made attempts to gain access to Diana's grave.

Speaking to BBC Radio 4, he explained: 'We've had four attempts to break into her body in the last 20 years and I'm very pleased that we've ended them all.

“There are some strange people out there and keeping her here is the safest place.”