Karen, Countess Spencer, buys £3.6m mansion just 10 miles from Althorp after refusing to quit the UK

From the Newshound archive · first published 2 October 2026.

Karen Spencer, 54, has splashed out £3.6 million from her divorce settlement on a six-bedroom country mansion in Northamptonshire, less than 10 miles from Althorp, the ancestral estate where she lived during her 13-year marriage to Earl Spencer. She reportedly refused to leave Britain because she shares a 14-year-old daughter, Charlotte, with the Earl, who has since remarried Norwegian archaeologist Professor Cat Jarman. The property boasts a heated swimming pool, an all-weather tennis court, a gym, and formal gardens described by estate agents as 'a remarkable country estate that epitomises luxury and refined living'.

Karen has kept her Countess Spencer title following the 2024 divorce, despite the Earl's new marriage.

The house move comes weeks after Earl Spencer's Diana memoir 'Swan Song' sparked a royal row over claims King Charles said 'we'll forget her soon enough'.

Karen's new mansion bears a striking resemblance to Althorp itself — built this century but with a grand, classically symmetrical facade.