Princess Diana
Three dresses go under the hammer for 1.5 million
© imago/ZUMA Wire
Three of Princess Diana’s dresses were auctioned for around 1.5 million euros. The experts had not expected so much money.
Three dresses belonging to Princess Diana (1961-1997) were auctioned for the equivalent of around 1.5 million euros. The outfits worn by the former Princess of Wales before her untimely death at 36 were among 1,400 items auctioned by Julien’s Auctions and Turner Classic Movies. “Legends: Hollywood and Royalty”were auctioned.
One of Princess Diana’s three items of clothing now sold is a red silk dress by Bruce Oldfield. The late ex-wife of King Charles III. (74) wore the robe at the film premiere of “Hot Shots!” in 1991 at the Odeon Leicester Square in London. It is said to have brought in 571,500 dollars (around 533,000 euros), as the Daily Mail reported. Before the auction, the dress was reportedly valued at up to $400,000.
Record prices for Princess Diana’s dresses
In addition to Bruce Oldfield’s outfit, two Diana gowns by Catherine Walker went under the hammer: a black and white velvet strapless dress and an off-the-shoulder dress with a black bodice and a green silk skirt. The princess wore the latter at a gala dinner at the Royal York Hotel in Toronto, Canada in 1991. It has now apparently also been sold for $571,500, as the Daily Mail writes. The minimum bid was therefore 100,000 dollars (93,000 euros).
The black and white Catherine Walker dress that Diana presented at a private event was auctioned for more than eight times the estimated sale price, according to the report. It is said to have brought in $508,000 (474,0000 euros).
“Our record-breaking sale of these dresses exceeded all expectations,” said Martin Nolan, founder and managing director of Julien’s Auctions, according to the Daily Mail.
A businesswoman from Michigan is said to have originally bought the dresses, along with two others that belonged to Diana, at an auction in New York in June 1997 for the equivalent of 140,000 euros. The dresses were donated by Princess Diana shortly before her death to raise money for charity, it is said.