More than two decades after her death, Princess Diana‘s wardrobe and jewellery continue to fetch extraordinary sums whenever they surface. As auction houses have learned repeatedly since 2023, almost anything connected to her name outperforms its estimate by a wide margin. Here are the ten priciest and rarest items linked to the Princess of Wales, ranked by what they actually sold for.
- The Swan Lake necklace and earrings suite
Price: Estimated $5 million–$15 million (2023); sold to a museum via private treaty for an undisclosed sum
According to Guernsey’s auction house, the Swan Lake suite was designed in collaboration with Diana herself and crafted by royal jeweller Garrard. The necklace, worn to a Royal Albert Hall gala performance of Swan Lake in June 1997, featured 178 diamonds and five South Sea pearls. Garrard finished the matching earrings that summer, but Diana died before the completed set could be delivered to her.
Reports suggest the set was intended as a gift from Dodi Fayed but was never paid for before the couple’s fatal crash that August. The suite has since changed hands multiple times, reselling for just over $600,000 in 2010. Its owners sought $12.1 million for it in 2017, and up to $15 million when it returned to auction in 2023, before it was acquired by a museum through a private sale, according to Guernsey’s.
- The Jacques Azagury celestial gown
Price: $1,148,080 (Julien’s Auctions, 2023)
This star-embroidered, ballerina-length velvet gown, worn by Diana in Florence in 1985 and again in Vancouver in 1986, holds the current world record as the most expensive item of her clothing ever sold at auction. According to Julien’s Auctions, it eclipsed its presale estimate of $100,000 by more than eleven times, surpassing the previous record set by a Victor Edelstein gown.
- The black sheep sweater
Price: $1,143,000 (Sotheby’s, 2023)
Few items demonstrate Diana’s crossover appeal better than a red wool jumper with a single black sheep motif, worn to a polo match in 1981. As per Sotheby’s, the sweater set a world record at the time for a piece of clothing worn by the princess, despite its modest, mass-market origins compared with her couture gowns.
- The aubergine Victor Edelstein ball gown
Price: $604,800 (Sotheby’s, 2023); originally sold for $24,150 in 1997
Designed for Edelstein’s autumn 1989 collection, this strapless velvet gown briefly held the record for the most expensive Diana-worn dress at auction. According to Sotheby’s, it sold for more than five times its pre-sale estimate in January 2023, having previously sold for a fraction of that sum during Diana’s own 1997 charity auction, before being surpassed by the Azagury gown that December.
- The Bruce Oldfield “Hot Shots!” gown and the Catherine Walker Toronto gown
Price: $571,500 each (Julien’s Auctions, 2023)
Two gowns tied for the same price at the same September 2023 sale. The red metallic chiffon Oldfield piece was worn to the 1991 premiere of Hot Shots! and had sold for just $34,500 at Diana’s 1997 charity auction. The black-and-jade Walker gown, worn to a 1991 gala dinner in Toronto during a royal tour of Canada, sold for the identical amount.
- The caring dress
Price: $520,000 (Julien’s Auctions, 2025)
A silk floral Bellville Sassoon day dress, worn frequently by Diana during hospital visits and nicknamed the “caring dress,” sold well above its $200,000–$300,000 estimate. The buyer, the founder of the Princess Diana Museum, said the piece would go on public display.
- The Catherine Walker black velvet and ivory silk gown
Price: $508,000 (Julien’s Auctions, 2023)
Worn by Diana to a private event and among the gowns she sold at Christie’s in 1997, this custom Walker piece was estimated at $60,000–$80,000 before it sold for more than six times that figure.
- The Catherine Walker coat dress and cream silk evening gown
Price: $455,000 each (Julien’s Auctions, 2025)
The navy wool pinstripe coat dress, worn by Diana leaving New York’s Carlyle Hotel in January 1995, and a cream silk evening gown by the same designer both sold for identical amounts at Julien’s largest-ever sale of her wardrobe.
- The Emanuel engagement blouse and the Murray Arbeid evening gown
Price: $381,000 each (Julien’s Auctions and Sotheby’s, 2023)
The blush pink chiffon blouse Diana wore for her 1981 Lord Snowdon engagement portrait, designed by David and Elizabeth Emanuel, sold at Julien’s in December 2023. Around the same time, a black strapless Murray Arbeid gown, worn twice in 1985, sold at Sotheby’s for the same price.
- The sapphire engagement ring
Price: Never sold; estimated worth reported at $250,000–$500,000 as an heirloom
Perhaps the most recognisable item associated with Diana never went to auction at all. Her 12-carat sapphire and diamond engagement ring, also crafted by Garrard, was inherited by Prince William and later given to Kate Middleton when the couple became engaged. While not sold commercially, royal commentators and jewellery historians widely regard it as one of the most valuable and historically significant pieces connected to the princess, given its continued role within the royal family.
Taken together, these items reflect more than material wealth. As per auction house commentary across multiple sales, much of the value attached to Diana’s belongings comes from the moments they were worn in and the causes she championed, from AIDS and cancer charities to landmine abolition, ensuring her wardrobe and jewellery remain objects of fascination for collectors worldwide.