Is Earl Spencer hosting Meghan Markle and Prince Harry?

Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex, and Meghan Markle, the Duchess of Sussex, returned to the UK for an extended stay and visited Althorp House, the Spencer family's ancestral home in Northamptonshire, England. Their children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet, came along, and the family paid a visit to Diana's gravesite on the estate.

The backdrop to all of this is that just hours before Harry landed, a previously offered invitation to stay at Buckingham Palace was rescinded. The Palace had grown frustrated after Harry delayed his response to the initial offer, and royal aides indicated the window had closed. Meghan then entered the country covertly with the children, owing to persistent security concerns, and the family ultimately took refuge at Earl Spencer's 13,000-acre Althorp estate.

Spencer confirmed the visit himself. During an appearance on the British talk show Lorraine, he said, "Harry came to stay in the summer with his family, and that was lovely," then added that seeing the children running around the estate brought a wave of sadness: "Can you imagine what a great-grandmother Diana would've been? Spoiling them rotten."

Spencer's wider defense of the Sussexes

The visit fits a pattern. Earl Spencer said the media treatment of Harry and Meghan carries "echoes" of what his sister Diana experienced, sharing that perspective in the context of promoting his memoir Swan Song: Diana, My Sister. He recalled witnessing Diana's "tears of despair" over press coverage and called it "a pity" to see those echoes now in the coverage of Harry and Meghan.

A royal commentator noted that "even when things were at their worst with the royals, Harry was always supported by his late mother's brother Earl Spencer." The Althorp visit makes that support concrete: when the Palace door closed, the Spencer door opened.