RIGHT ROYAL RARITIES
1. Document signed by King Henry VIII £65,000
Written on vellum in 1513, the year the King invaded France, the document relates to a £637 and 10 shilling loan (£3.9million in today’s money) by the
Crown to Richard Gresham.
The borrower’s family later went on to establish the Royal Exchange in the City of
London, a forerunner to the London Stock Exchange.
2. Lock of King Charles’s hair £15,000
The hair was taken from King Charles I following his execution in 1647. After being beheaded the head was sewn back on to the body so he could be buried at St George’s chapel in Windsor Castle. The body was exhumed in 1813 – which is when the Royal physician cut two locks
from his hair.
3. Lady Diana’s bicycle £9,200
This Raleigh Traveller is known
as the ‘shame bike’ because Lady Diana was ordered to stop cycling on it after her engagement to Prince Charles as it was not deemed very regal for a future Monarch’s wife. The bicycle was sold at auction two years ago.
4. Prince William’s wedding cake £5,500
A slice handed out at the wedding of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge sold for £5,500 at auction in 2011 – three years after their wedding. A slice from Prince Charles and Princess Diana’s 1981 wedding went for £1,756 in 2012. A slice of cake for Harry and Meghan’s marriage is valued at up to £2,000.
5. Signed photo of Prince John £4,950
A rare photo of ‘the lost Prince’ signed by the youngest son of Queen Mary and King George V in 1918. The boy suffered from severe epilepsy. He died a year later aged 13 after a fit.