Meghan Markle has shared new photos from the family’s recent European trip, and one of them shows Lilibet walking through the grounds of Althorp holding what appears to be a tiny handbag and a blanket. Another image shows Prince Harry and Archie just ahead of her with what seem to be bouquets of flowers, turning a private visit to Princess Diana’s childhood home into a rare public glimpse of the Sussexes together.
The photos matter because they were posted now, not later, while the family’s travel plans have already been under scrutiny. Meghan’s post, captioned “Summer Holiday,” also includes Harry playing in a pool with the children, throwing Lilibet into the air while Archie swims behind them, plus a shot that appears to show Meghan on a sun lounger beside the pool with the family’s Beagle, Mamma Mia.
Althorp is no ordinary stop on a vacation. It is the estate that Diana’s brother Charles Spencer still owns and lives on with his new wife, and it was where he said Diana should be laid to rest after her death so her grave could be properly looked after by her family and visited in privacy by her sons. He later told the that he worried about where she could safely be buried because of the emotion around her death, and he has said the burial place at the center of Oval Lake was chosen to give an extra buffer from the public.
That is why the family’s visit is drawing attention beyond the photos themselves. Diana’s grave is not open to the public, though another memorial on the grounds lets visitors pay their respects, and People reported that the Sussexes may have visited the burial site on the island in the middle of Oval Lake. The family’s invitation came from Spencer, who said William and Harry are able to visit their mother’s burial site whenever they please and described the setting as tranquil. In one image, Cat Jarman appears in the background with her husband, reinforcing that this was a family gathering, not a staged stop for cameras.
The cheerful images also land against a harder backdrop. The trip began under controversy and speculation over whether Harry would be joined in the U.K. by Meghan and the children, after reports that plans changed when he was denied taxpayer-funded security and later would travel to London alone. For now, the clearest fact is the one Meghan chose to show: Lilibet on the grounds of Althorp, the daughter of Diana’s son walking where Diana herself once lived, and a family visit that leaves one important question unanswered — whether they went to the grave itself.
