Last year, Princess Diana's romantic, ballerina-length evening dress - designed by Moroccan-British fashion designer Jacques Azagury - sold at auction for a record-breaking $1,148,080 (£904,262). Now, in just a few weeks, Martin Nolan, Executive Producer and co-creator of Julien’s Auctions, hopes to surpass that success at the Princess Diana Style And A Royal Collection auction. The event, taking place in Beverly Hills, will feature over 140 items that once belonged to the late Princess.
In this week’s episode of A Right Royal Podcast, recorded at the Peninsula Hotel in London during an exclusive preview, hosts Andrea Caamano, Emmy Griffiths, and royal editor Emily Nash spoke to the record-breaking designer himself, who admitted he doesn’t know the identity of the winning bidder, and Martin Nolan, who shared his thoughts on whether Princess Diana’s sons, Prince William and Prince Harry, have ever bid on any of their mother’s possessions.
© Getty Images“I would expect that they are tempted and expect that they do and expect they have representatives who buy on their behalf,” Martin told HELLO!, before adding, “And that's understandable. I would too.”
“You see the [HEAD] ski suit and the great photographs of them or the shoes that she wore when she went to the dinosaur exhibition at the Museum of Natural History here.
“You know, like all of those, they're memories for them, it’s their mum, she's the most famous person in the world but of course they would love to own some of these and preserve them for their own memories,” he said.
© Tim Graham Photo Library via GetMartin also spoke about how long the team spent preparing for the remarkable auction and revealed his favourite item among the 325 that will be featured at The Peninsula Beverly Hills on 26 June.
© Tim Graham Photo Library via GetElsewhere in the episode, Jacques shares details of his final fitting with Diana - which took place at his studio just two days before she travelled to Paris - and explains why he kept their final dress, intended for a September event, a secret for so many years.
