Why Princess Dianas grave got a US$27 million makeover thanks to her brother, Earl Charles Spence

This wasn’t to be, however. Shockingly, on at least four occasions, grave-robbers have targeted Diana’s coffin. This has been confirmed by her brother, who told BBC Radio 4: “We have had four attempted break-ins towards her body in the last 20 years. I am very glad that we have seen all of them off.” He confirmed, however, that he still considered the site the safest place for Diana’s remains to be.

The gravesite was also the centre of controversy when visitors, who had paid their respects to the “people’s princess”, expressed outrage and dismay over the way the location had been seemingly neglected. Chief among the critics was Diana’s former personal chef, Darren McGrady, who tweeted a picture back in 2014 of the overgrown island with the caption: “If I cared for Princess Diana in life as you are doing in death I would have been fired @AlthorpEstate #CleanTheLake”.

McGrady was visiting the 500-year-old estate, the home of the Spencer family for 18 generations, to pay his respects to his former employer. In another tweet, he added: “Sad to see Earl Spencer has neglected Diana’s resting place. Please tidy up the vegetation on the island.” The chef also penned a blog post saying: “It was a mess and in my opinion no place for a princess.”

This prompted a response from Earl Spencer and the estate management, and they announced a multimillion-dollar revamp and remodelling of the gravesite.

At the time, they confirmed it had been the first facelift the grounds had received in 350 years – and as pictures show, it was well worth it.

The princess’ final resting place has been transformed from a scene of dark, overgrowing vegetation surrounded by murky waters, to a stunningly tended landscape situated in a crystal clear lake.

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