Inside Princess Diana’s Childhood Estate—as It Becomes Home to Her Brother Charles Spencer and His Fourth Wife Cat Jarman

Princess Diana's brother, Charles, has tied the knot for a fourth time, wedding his partner, Norwegian archeologist Cat Jarman, in an intimate ceremony held thousands of miles from his family's English countryside estate.

In lieu of a more traditional ceremony, the 61-year-old 9th Earl Spencer and his bride chose to host their nuptials in Arizona, heading to the stunning landscape of Sedona, where the iconic Cathedral Rock served as the backdrop for their very private ceremony.

Cat, 44, shared several professional photos from their happy day on her Instagram account, along with a much more candid selfie that shows her giving her new husband a kiss on the cheek, with Sedona's red rocks clearly visible behind them.

Their May 15 wedding came just a few months after Charles confirmed that he had finalized his divorce from his third wife, Karen Spencer, whom he wed in 2011. However, the newlyweds have now known each other for several years, having first met in 2021, when author Charles was asked to review Jarman's own book, "River Kings."

The ceremony marks a stark new chapter in the British aristocrat's life—and saw him turn away from the years of tradition that had guided his three other weddings, two of which were held at the Spencer family's longtime estate in Northamptonshire, England, while the first took place at a nearby church.

However, Charles and Cat seem overjoyed with how their wedding day went, telling People magazine: "We both feel so incredibly lucky to have progressed from being colleagues, to friendship, to deep love and connection. Each stage of our relationship has been underpinned by laughter and we share a passion for life."

Charles has previously opened up about how different his relationship to Cat was compared to his previous marriages, telling the Daily Mail in 2024 that she inspired him to break away from convention and see things in a new light.

"Cat is completely different to anyone I have been with before," he shared.

Which might perhaps be one of the reasons the couple's wedding was so far removed from his other nuptials, all of which were much more traditional, taking place in and around Althorp House, the sprawling countryside estate where he and his late sister were raised.

His first wedding, to Victoria Aitken, took place at the St. Mary the Virgin Church in Great Brington, which was just a four-minute drive from the Spencers' ancestral spread. Charles' nephew, Prince Harry, served as a pageboy at the highly-publicized September 1989 ceremony.

However, the couple split in 1997, the same year that Charles' sister died in a tragic car crash in Paris.

Their split came two years after they relocated to South Africa, where they took up residence in a stunning 2-acre estate just outside of Cape Town in a reported attempt to escape the constant media attention they faced in the U.K.

Following their divorce, Charles sold that property and returned to the U.K. in 2000, when he took up residence once again at Althorp.

The 13,000-acre estate has been in the Spencer family since 1508, when Charles' ancestors first bought the land—although the house that now sits at the heart of the property was largely built in 1688, replacing the original structure that once stood there.

It underwent another significant overhaul in the 18th century at the hands of architect Henry Holland, who transformed the red-brick Tudor estate into the opulent manse that exists today.

Althorp would serve as the venue for Charles' second and third weddings; he tied the knot with Caroline Freud at the property's private chapel in December 2001, and the two remained married for six years before their 2007 divorce. He then wed his third wife, Karen, on the same site four years later.

Charles officially took over ownership of the property in 1992, after the death of his father, Edward, and he has been credited with transforming Althorp into a thriving business, launching an annual literary festival on the grounds of the estate in 2003—before also launching a furniture collection inspired by the original pieces found throughout the dwelling six years later.

Today, the property still serves as Charles' primary residence, and it's understood that he and his new wife have been living there together for just over a year—since his third wife, Karen, moved out.

The author has previously expressed a desire to pass down the property to his eldest son, Louis, revealing in a 2012 interview with The Telegraph that he had "gently brainwashed" his child into keeping Althorp in the family, even if he does not end up using it as his main abode.

"I’ve gently brainwashed him over the years," he confessed. "But I’ve said to him: 'You’re a young man from a different generation and you may not want to live here, but please don’t sell it.’"

There is, of course, one very emotional reason that Charles wishes to keep the property in the family—beyond maintaining its long-standing position as the Spencers' ancestral estate: his sister, Diana, is buried on a private island at the heart of a small lake on the grounds of Althorp.

Charles revealed shortly after his sister's death that the decision had been made to lay her to rest at her childhood home, noting in a statement at the time that he wanted to ensure her "grave can be properly looked after by her family and visited in privacy by her sons," Prince William and Prince Harry.

He later explained to the BBC: "There was such a whipped-up feeling of emotion everywhere that I was very worried about where we could safely bury her."

Diana's grave is not accessible to the public; however, there is another memorial on the grounds of Althorp where visitors can pay their respects to the late mother of two.

Charles has previously explained that he chose to bury Diana at the center of the ornamental lake, known as Oval Lake, in order to provide an extra "buffer" against the public.