Princess Diana’s 25th death anniversary is less than a day away, and one of her memorabilia was auctioned last Saturday, according to Associated Press.
Silverstone Auctions organized the auction, which reported that the car was sold after a “fierce bidding”. The vehicle in question is Lady Diana’s black Ford Escort RS Turbo which was sold for a whopping 650,000 pounds ($764,000)! The car broke the world sales record as her fans kept fighting for a piece of her life.
According to the auction house, the buyer, whose name has not been disclosed, paid a buyer’s premium of 12.5% on top of the selling price of the car. The bidding had started from a price of 100,000 pounds, and the final amount paid was more than $850,000. To put things in perspective, a new Ford Escort only costs 8,500 pounds!
The Escort was driven by Princess Diana from 1985 to 1988. She was frequently photographed driving this car in the posh London areas of Chelsea and Kensington. Typically manufactured in white, Lady Diana got her RS Turbo Series 1 in black to be more unique. Ford also added features for her security, such as a second rear-view mirror for the protection officer.
The “People’s Princess” had passed away in a car crash in Paris on Aug. 31, 1997. This Aug 31st will mark her 25th death anniversary. The value of the items belonging to her holds a special place in the hearts of her fans as, at the beginning of the auction of the car, the auctioneer rightfully said, “This is a little moment of history, ladies and gentlemen,”.
The auction also had some other interesting vehicles for sale. One of them was a 1973 black Rover P5 that was used to drive Margaret Thatcher to the Buckingham Palace before she became the first female prime minister of Britain. Another gem was a 2015 Land Rover Defender that was featured in the 2015 James Bond film “Spectre.”
