Princess Diana’s one of a kind Ford Escort sells for £650,000 at auction

A motor vehicle utilised and driven by Diana, Princess of Wales, sold for a whopping £650,000 (around €765,000 or $762,000) at auction on Saturday. The late British Royal was often observed driving the Ford Escort RS Turbo Series 1 all-around Chelsea and Kensington in London, often with Prince William sitting down in a exclusive car seat in the back. Diana favored driving herself close to, which meant her bodyguard was relegated to the passenger seat.

People’s princess shunned fancy royal cars and trucks

For the princess to drive the automobile was “a very courageous option,” Arwel Richards, vintage car or truck professional at Silverstone Auctions, reported.

“All the other associates of the royal family would be driving around London in the back again… of an official car… and she’s driving in a auto… that you would see on a housing estate not outdoors the palace,” Richards mentioned.

Diana desired to use her own car in its place of the royal family’s stately Rolls-Royces and Daimlers.

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The Escort was not a luxurious car or truck but one of the UK’s ideal-advertising automobiles, while the RS Turbo was one thing particular and out of attain of numerous fewer wealthy Escort drivers.

Ford specifically tailored it for Diana to make it additional discreet with capabilities this kind of as a 2nd rear perspective mirror (so her safety detail could maintain an eye on cars and trucks behind from the passenger seat if she was driving) and a radio in the glove box.

It was also painted black at the palace’s request to make it a lot more inconspicuous — Ford typically only marketed the distinctive, sporty model of its common compact family members saloon in white — and it experienced a grill from the standard product Escort to conceal its additional energy and benefit.

She drove the vehicle involving 1985 and 1988 and clocked 6,800 miles (approximately 10,950 kilometres) in it just before returning it to Ford. The car or truck stays pretty very low mileage for its age, with just underneath 25,000 miles on the clock.

The motor vehicle was auctioned for £650,000 plus the buyer’s quality and tax bringing the complete profits selling price to £730,000.

Anniversary of Diana’s death

The sale comes as curiosity in Diana’s lifetime stays big, a quarter-century soon after her death, fuelled in some portion in latest a long time by the results of the Netflix sequence “The Crown”.

The auctioneers mentioned the sale captivated “a supreme volume of global push and publicity desire.”

Past yr another Ford Escort previously owned by Diana, a 1981 silver 1.6L Ghia saloon that was an engagement present from Prince Charles, marketed at auction for £52,000.

Next 7 days marks 25 many years considering that Diana died, aged 36, when a limousine in which she was a passenger crashed in a Paris tunnel.