After the world has turned its gaze from Westminster Abbey and the funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales, on Saturday, her friends and family will travel with her remains to her final resting place in the Spencer chapel at St Mary the Virgin Church in Northamptonshire.
There, Diana will be interred in her family's vault with 20 generations of her ancestors, close to the ashes of her father, the 8th Earl Spencer, who died in 1992. The Spencer family seat at Althorp House was bought by Sir John Spencer and built to his specifications in 1508. He was the first family member to be buried in the chapel in 1522.
Diana's brother, Earl Spencer, lives at the house for only part of the year following his recent decision to move to South Africa. The house remains closed for most of the year but is open to the public during August.
A spokeswoman for the estate yesterday described the "impressive collection of portraiture" on display at Althorp House, including paintings by Joshua Reynolds. The 3rd Earl Spencer collected many of these during a "grand tour" of Italy.
St Mary the Virgin Church was built in the 13th century and sits in the village of Great Brington, one mile from Althorp House.
Near the chapel lie the remains of Lawrence Washington, great great great grandfather of George Washington, first President of the United States of America.
Lawrence Washington was buried in the chancel of the church in December 1616 while his younger brother, Robert Washington and Robert's wife, Elizabeth, were buried in the nave in the early 1620s.
On Saturday, Diana's family may be reminded of a story Diana and Prince Charles once told about how they first met in a field beside Althorp House.
For although the procession of Diana's coffin through London may make for a poignant reminder of the royal wedding of 1981, mourners in Great Brington will be reminded that the early days of their romance were played out much closer to home.
When he helped to write a history of the Great Brington area in a book titled Aspects of Brington, Dr Stephen Mattingly described the Spencer chapel as an ornate mausoleum. But he said yesterday that although unmarried children and wives had been buried there, "I can't remember a sister of an earl being buried in the chapel".
Visitors to the church can look at the walls of the mausoleum which bear the coat of arms of the Spencer family, but it is usually only open to the public on special occasions with the permission of the present Earl Spencer, Diana's brother, Charles.
The Rev David MacPherson led a service yesterday after villagers began to absorb the details of Diana's death.
He said: "One or two people here knew the princess personally and they have been devastated. There is a great sense of sadness."