Princess Margaret’s husband ‘turned down’ title says expert

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It is the latest Royal memorabilia auction, and is expected to sell for up to £55,000. Margaret’s 1980 Silver Wraith II is being sold with H&H Classics at IWM Duxford in Cambridgeshire on May 26.

While Margaret owned the limited Rolls-Royce, it is believed to have carried the Queen, Diana Spencer before she married Prince Charles, and former US president Ronald Reagan and First Lady Nancy.

The vehicle has 48,000 miles on the clock, with its final official journey conveying family members to Margaret’s funeral in 2002.

Just 2,135 Silver Wraith II’s were made between 1977 and 1980.

The car was tailored to Margaret’s personal specifications, with it being in her possession for 22 years.

Damian Jones, head of sales at H&H Classics, talked up the Rolls-Royce ahead of its auction

He said: “This is a very special, very important and low mileage Silver Wraith II which surely belongs in a museum.

“It is offered for sale with copy build records, service invoices and a wealth of period photos.”

A collection of Princess Diana’s letters went up for auction last month, fetching a total of £82,000 over three days.

The 36 “witty and intelligent private letters”, most of which were composed between 1990 and 1997 and addressed to Diana’s close friend Roger Bramble, were unearthed from a ‘cupboard in a country farmhouse’ after spending 23 years in hiding.

Roger, a long-time friend of Diana, gave the letters to a younger relative after the Princess’s death in 1997.

This unnamed family member then passed them onto David Lay Auctioneers, to be sold to the public.

In a statement, the Bramble family explained their decision to share her private notes, and said: “We believe these letters reveal the writer to be an affectionate, cultivated and delightful human being and that their wider publication could only do credit to their author.”

Diana’s “shame” bike, which was considered “not fit for a royal”, also sold on auction for double its initial asking price.

The blue Raleigh was dubbed the “shame” bike because the princess was told to get rid of it before she married Prince Charles.

It was sold at an auction house in Battle, East Sussex, for a huge £44,000 – more than double the £20,000 estimate.

The bike was sold for around £9,000 in 2018, meaning today’s sale marks a fivefold increase of value in just three years.

Burstow and Hewett, the auctioneers in Battle, had expected the bike to sell for between £15,000 and £20,000, largely based on the popularity of Netflix drama The Crown.

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