The influence of Princess Diana's mansion on the set design of "Bridgerton".

The Althorpe Estate is a sprawling mansion in the English countryside, adorned with crystal chandeliers and 500-year-old paintings. It is where Princess Diana spent her teenage years before marrying Prince Charles, and is currently home to her brother, Charles Spencer.

It is also the setting for Netflix's Bridgerton.

In December 2020, a few days after the first season of "Bridgerton" premiered, showrunner Chris Van Dusen shared some insights on Twitter: "The interior of Bridgerton House was inspired by Althorpe, which I visited while working on the show. Elegance. Luxury. And that staircase."

Charles Spencer retweeted the news shortly thereafter, saying, "Just saw this.

Bridgerton fans are probably familiar with the fictional version of Princess Diana's home, but what exactly is the Althorpe Estate like?

For this video, NBC News correspondent Molly Hunter visited the 13,000-acre estate and received a personal tour from Charles Spencer himself. Hunter was greeted in the entrance hall of the mansion, with its black-and-white tiled floors and towering paintings.

At first glance, the mansion would appear opulent to most average people, but Spencer insisted, "It's not a mansion. It's not intimidating," he insisted. Then he chuckled, "I hope!"

He added, "I hope.

The video then followed Hunter and Spencer to the famous staircase, lit by a crystal chandelier and surrounded by family portraits, including a lovely painting of Princess Diana.

"[The staircase] just brings it all together and I can see how this would be attractive to creative men," Spencer said, referring to Chris Van Dusen.

"When I was writing the script for the pilot, I actually wrote that there was this grand central staircase in the middle of the Bridgerton house with a portrait hanging above it, like Althorpe," Van Dusen told Hunter. 'Those words are literally in the script.'

The rest of the tour stopped at the painters' passage, a room with many self-portraits and busts. Spencer joked that this room may be called the "Bridgerton Room" in the future.

We also stopped by the Picture Gallery. This long room has an entire wall covered with gold-framed paintings. Most of the portraits have been in the Spencer family's collection for 500 years, but a few newer works have crept in: in a painting from 2008, Britannia is wearing a red tank top and smoking a cigarette; in a painting from 2007, she is wearing a red shirt and a red shirt.

"People get whiplash," Spencer said. 'When the public walks by, all they see is 17th-century stuff, and all of a sudden there's 2008 stuff.'

For Spencer, adding a subtly contemporary touch to the mansion will keep it alive for generations to come. And Althorpe's new correlation with Bridgerton is just another way to breathe new life into the family home.

"I think it's wonderful," Spencer replied when asked about Van Dusen's repurposing of the mansion.

"These designs have been here for a long time, so it's not a tribute to me, but to my ancestors who were lucky enough to hire a great artist to make the Althorpe interiors look great. And they live on, slightly reshaped."