On sale... bike Diana was told it was ‘unfit’ for a princess to ride

A BICYCLE Princess Diana owned when she was engaged to Prince Charles is being tipped to sell today for thousands of pounds.

She continued to ride the 1970s Raleigh Traveller after their engagement in 1981 until Buckingham Palace advisers deemed it “unfit for a princess”.

She eventually sold the little blue bicycle to Gerald Stonehill, the father of a friend.

He kept it in his garage for 27 years before it was sold at auction to the current owner, who bought it for £211 in 2008 but who has now decided to sell it again, through Farnon & Lake Auctions, at Thame, Oxfordshire.

The auction house estimated a sale price of £500 to £1,500 but pre-auction bids have already reached £9,000.

Auctioneer Duncan Lang said: “When she got engaged to Charles it was said within the Palace that it wasn’t very regal to be riding around London on a bicycle so it was sold.

“It was only several years later that the story got out and the bike became a really collectable piece of royal memorabilia.

“It’s in really nice condition. Raleigh are among the best British bikes you can buy, but with the excellent provenance who knows what it will make. Royal collectors will pay big money for things if they want them enough.

“Buyers tend not to show their hands too early so who knows what it could make in the saleroom!”

The bike has 26in wheels, three Sturmey Archer gears and has even retained its original hand pump. Charles and Diana pose at Buckingham Palace for their engagement photo and, left, the bicycle that she continued to ride around London – until she was banned