EXCLUSIVEPrince Harry ‘showed he feels at home with the Spencers’ by staying with Uncle Charles on UK visit

Prince Harry ‘showed he feels at home with the Spencers’ by staying with his uncle at Althorp House during his trip to the UK last week, a royal commentator said today.

The Duke of Sussex is thought to have visited Charles Spencer at the ancestral home and final resting place of his late mother Princess Diana in Northamptonshire.

Harry stayed with Charles, the 9th Earl Spencer, at Althorp after going to the funeral of Diana’s brother-in-law Lord Robert Fellowes last Thursday, according to People.

And royal expert Richard Fitzwilliams told MailOnline today that Harry staying at Althorp ’emphasises his links with his mother’s family’ – far more so than with his father King Charles III as he remains estranged from most of the Royal Family.

Last Thursday’s service took place two days before the 27th anniversary of Diana’s death on Saturday. Her final resting place is on an island on the Oval Lake at Althorp.

The Duke has remained close to Diana’s family – and her brother Charles, the 9th Earl Spencer, also attended a service in May for the tenth anniversary of Harry’s Invictus Games at St Paul’s Cathedral in London, when no senior royal was in attendance.

It was claimed by The Times on August 15 that Harry decided to stay in a hotel during this trip in May after turning down an offer of lodging at Buckingham Palace.

Today, Mr Fitzwilliams said that Harry’s decision to stay at Althorp last week ‘is, of course, understandable so near to the anniversary of his mother’s death’.

But he continued: ‘It does, however, throw into sharp relief the apparent breakdown in relations not only with his brother, to whom he has reportedly not spoken for two years, but with his father, who is fighting cancer.’

Harry made a surprise appearance at Lord Fellowes’s memorial service at St Mary’s Church in Snettisham, Norfolk, and is then reported to have travelled to Althorp.

The funeral was also attended by Prince William, but witnesses claimed the estranged brothers kept their distance and sat apart at the back of the church.

One member of the congregation told People: ‘Most people were astounded that Harry came. He was on remarkably good form – and you could tell he was very pleased to see everybody. And he was very pleased that he had come over.’

And Mr Fitzwilliams added: ‘The announcement of his staying at Althorp after the memorial service intentionally emphasises his links with his mother’s family.

‘Perhaps it will be they, and not members of the Royal Family, who will support him when the Invictus Games are held in Birmingham in 2027.’

He also said: ‘It remains to be seen if and when Harry will return again to Britain during his father’s illness.

‘What is clear is that he feels at home with the Spencers and who can forget Earl Spencer’s oration at his mother’s funeral. Who knows where that might lead in the future?’

MailOnline has requested comment from Charles, the 9th Earl Spencer, and representatives of the Sussexes about reports that Harry stayed at Althorp.

But the claims are likely to be true given the US publication’s close links to the couple.

Last month, The Times reported that Harry was offered lodging at Buckingham Palace while visiting the UK in May but turned the rooms down to stay in a hotel.

Prior to this report it had been believed that Harry had asked his father to stay in a royal residence on the trip, but appeared to change his mind and instead opted for a hotel.

But the Times article suggested Harry was offered rooms in Buckingham Palace while his father was staying at nearby Clarence House.

A source told the newspaper at the time: ‘I don’t know what more the King could have done. He offered Harry to stay at Buckingham Palace but that it seems even that wasn’t good enough.

‘It was far from clear what the duke’s plans were. When it came to it there was no space in the King’s diary in between treatment and other scheduled events.’

Harry did not see the King during the trip, with the Duke releasing a statement that said his father did not have time to meet with him.

The source added: ‘It makes Harry’s decision to stay in a hotel all the more strange when the Palace would naturally offer all the security you could wish for.

‘It would also have made more sense from a point of view of seeing his father as it would be easier for the King to see his son if they were staying nearby.’

On his latest trip, Harry chose to stay at Althorp – the 13,000-acre estate where Earl Spencer and Diana grew up with their two sisters – which is a hugely poignant location for him.

Harry revealed in his controversial memoir Spare in January last year that Meghan kneeled and put her palms on Diana’s grave at the estate in 2017 and asked his late mother for ‘clarity and guidance’.

On the 20th anniversary of her death, Harry and Meghan had rowed out to Diana’s final resting place on an island. After some time reflecting, he sensed Meghan wanted a moment to herself by the site.

‘When I returned, she was on her knees with her eyes closed and her palms flat against the stone,’ Harry wrote.