Earl Spencer rents out Prince Diana's family home - for £25k a night
Princess Diana's brother, Earl Spencer, is renting her ancestral home to guests - for the princely sum of £25,000 a night.
According to the Mirror, the Earl is renting out his Althorp estate - where Diana is buried - to parties or groups of up to 50.
It is also available for week-long stays, with other options including a five-course meal, priced a £300 per head. To eat the dinner in the grand picture gallery would be a further £10000. Bed and breakfast is charged at £500 per person.
Condé Nast's website reports, which profiled the estate, said: "It does not get much grander than this. Seat of the Spencer family and childhood home of Diana, Princess of Wales, the property has a series of staterooms, a library and a picture gallery that can seat 200 for dinner. Sleeps 50, from £10,000 per week."
According to the Radar Online, Simone Simmons, a friend of the late princess, blasted the Earl's touristic entrepreneurial ideas.
"The earl closed Althorp to the public because he didn't want to exploit his sister's memory but he's doing much the same by renting out rooms. By staying there, people are simply helping him make money."
The house sits in 550 acres of parkland, which is part of the 14,000 acre Althorp Estate in Northants.
A spokesperson for the Althorp Estate made the following statement:
"1976 was the first year that Althorp was actively and publicly marketed for commercial visits, with overnight paying guests in all available and suitable bedrooms, by an agent. This business has therefore been on-going for 37 years.
"There was coverage of this new development, back then, in the British press, including a photocall and interview with the Late Earl Spencer at Althorp.
"Althorp has been available on the same basis ever since, through various agents, who have advertised such availability as they see fit – through literature, at trade fairs, and on the internet (since it became a common marketing tool – i.e. in the last few years).
"This form of client access is accepted practice for many owners of Britain's historic houses, who do their best to maintain the nation's and their family heritage, as you can see from the websites of many of those homes, and the agencies that represent them.
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