A collection of items once owned by members of the royal family, including dresses and notes by the late Princess Diana, has sold for more than £4 million at auction in California.
The sale featured more than 200 items, and was billed by auctioneers as the most extensive collection of Diana’s personal belongings since she held her own charity auction two months before her death in 1997.
A magenta silk and lace off-the-shoulder evening dress designed by British Victor Edelstein, which Diana wore in London and Germany in 1987, topped the sale at $910,000 (£720,000) – four-and-a-half times its original lower estimate.
British creator Edelstein also designed the famous navy blue dress the princess wore when she danced with John Travolta at the White House in 1985.
Princess Diana’s favourite designers including Edelstein, Caroline Charles, and Catherine Walker all featured in the auction titled Princess Diana’s Elegance & A Royal Collection, which was held at The Peninsula Beverly Hills in Los Angeles on 26 June.
Meanwhile, a Murray Arbeid midnight blue strapless gown Princess Diana wore twice in 1986 and to a Royal Opera House performance of Cinderella in 1987 also topped its estimate. The gown sold for $780,000 (£617,000), almost four times its lower estimate
A pink floral silk shirt dress designed by Walker, which Diana wore to Prince William’s sports day at Richmond Stadium in 1988 as well as leaving Prince Harry’s school in Notting Hill in 1992, sold for $444,500 (£352,000).
A portion of the auction proceeds from this gown will benefit Muscular Dystrophy UK, alongside other specified lots. The auction also featured more than 20 handwritten letters, notes, and holiday cards from Princess Diana.
Many of the letters were written to Maud Pendrey, a former housekeeper at the Spencer family home at the Althorp Estate in Northamptonshire, where Diana grew up.
Source: BBC
In other news – PM’s chief of staff helping election bet investigators
Rishi Sunak‘s chief of staff has been interviewed as a witness by the Gambling Commission, about the saga over alleged bets on the timing of the general election. Liam Booth-Smith spoke to the betting regulator at its request last week.
Sources stress that Mr Booth-Smith, the prime minister’s closest aide, is not a suspect in the investigation and had not placed a bet himself. Read more
