The Ford Escort RS Turbo Series 1 driven by the late Princess Diana brought in £724,500 (869,000 euros) at an auction held on Saturday August 27, 2022 on the British circuit of Silverstone as reported by Paris Match in its lines. The Silverstone website describes the car as the last Princess of Wales Ford Escort, with 24,961 miles on the clock, or 40,000 km. Saturday’s sale came four days before the 25th anniversary of the Princess of Wales’ death at the age of 36 in a car accident in Paris.
Lady Diana drove the black 1985 Ford Escort RS Turbo for almost three years and was regularly photographed using it on trips to the upmarket shopping districts of London, Chelsea and Kensington. “It’s a little bit of history, ladies and gentlemen,” the auctioneer said as he launched the auction at 100,000 pounds ($117,000) – a starting figure that has already eclipsed the previous record for a similar car, in white, sold last year. The final price, including a 12.5% buyer’s premium, was over $850,000.
Our car auction is well underway! Lot 491, the Diana Escort RS Turbo is heading across the block in an hour or so. We have livestream on our website and YouTube and we will also be going live on Instagram. Make sure you tune in!
The princess and the memories marking her life retain enduring public appeal long after her death. Last year, a piece of cake from her royal wedding to Prince Charles – 40 years old and likely unfit for consumption – was auctioned off at another auction for around $2,000.
Those at Saturday’s auction certainly seemed eager to hold on to a slice of UK history and a memento of the ‘people’s princess’, cheering as bids emerged from Coventry and Cheshire, and booing when the main offers appeared from foreign investors.
Diana’s car was eventually sold to a – for now unnamed – buyer residing in a bucolic Cheshire village, just south of Manchester, which is popular with British Premier League football players.
The auctioneer described the vehicle as a “pristine example” of the Ford Escort, which was one of the best-selling cars of the 1980s in Britain.
Known as the “people’s sports car”, it was a rare black version of the car, apparently commissioned at the request of palace security officials who wanted Diana to drive a more discreet vehicle. She preferred to drive herself, with a bodyguard in the passenger seat.
Also on sale Saturday are a black 1973 Rover P5 used to drive Margaret Thatcher to Buckingham Palace before her appointment as Britain’s first female Prime Minister and a 2015 Land Rover Defender that featured in James Bond’s ‘Spectre’ 2015.
In June 2021, another Ford Escort used by Diana, a 1981 1.6 Ghia sedan given to her for her engagement, sold for 52,000 pounds to a South American bidder.