Did you know that Princess Diana's childhood home has a surprising connection to hit Netflix series Bridgerton?
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Writing on Twitter back in December 2020, a few days after the show debuted, creator Chris Van Dusen revealed that the Bridgerton family house was "inspired" by a trip he made to the Spencer family home, Althorp House. "Elegance. Opulence," he wrote, adding that he was particularly enamoured by the staircase at Althorp.
And now, Diana's younger brother, Charles Spencer, who is custodian of the estate, has tweeted his appreciation of the creator's comments and the show's subsequent homage to his family home.
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"Just seen this, below - such a compliment to those of my family who went before me, making @AlthorpHouse what it still is today. #bridgerton," he wrote in reply.
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Charles, 9th Earl Spencer inherited the beautiful estate which can be found in Northamptonshire in 1992. The property — which boasts 90 rooms and 550 acres - was previously owned by his father, Earl John Spencer, and it was where Diana grew up with her three siblings prior to her 1981 marriage to Prince Charles.
The interior of the Bridgerton family home was inspired by a visit to Althorp
It's also where Diana was buried after her death in 1997. Her grave is private — it's on an island in the centre of a lake — but there is a memorial that guests can visit to pay their respects.
It's not the only royal link Bridgerton has. Earlier his year Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York, revealed that, just like the rest of us, she can't get enough of smash-hit Netflix series and wants to ask producer Shonda Rhimes to adapt her own upcoming series of historical romance novels for television too.
The real life staircase at Althorp House
"I adored Bridgerton so much that I watched it twice, deliberately. I'm obsessed with it," Sarah said of the steamy drama starring Phoebe Dynevor and Regé-Jean Page.
She added: "I definitely will be talking to Shondaland about making [Her Heart For A Compass] into a TV series."
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She also shared a rumour she's heard about the show's highly-anticipated second season. "I hear they might be making future series at Sunninghill Park for the next five years, which is my old home," she said of the southern England estate where she lived for the first years of her marriage to Prince Andrew.
After debuting on Christmas Day 2020, the period drama, which follows the eight close-knit siblings of the Bridgerton family, quickly climbed to the top of Netflix's top ten most-watched lists in both the UK and US, as well as many other countries. Filming for season two began earlier this year and is expected to land on the streaming site sometime next year.
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