Sept. 20, 2026

Princess Diana's 'Revenge Dress' Returns to Auction as Kate's Royal Role Goes Global

Show Notes
Transcript

Princess Diana's iconic revenge dress heads back to auction with a surprising connection to Prince William. Plus, Kate Middleton's early childhood project prepares for an international expansion, why James Middleton has become Catherine's most trusted ally, and a rare look inside the secret royal wardrobe preserving more than five centuries of royal history.

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Palace Intrigue is a daily British royal family podcast covering King Charles, Meghan Markle, Prince Harry, Kate Middleton and the House of Windsor. New episodes every day. Follow on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen. Part of the Caloroga Shark Media network.

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Hello and welcome to Palace Intrigue. I am your host,

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Mark Francis. Princess Diana's famous revenge dress is going back

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on the auction block, nearly 30 years after Diana sold

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it as part of a charity auction that was reportedly

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Prince William's idea. Diana wore the black off-the-shoulder Christina Stambolian

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dress to a Serpentine Gallery event in 1994. The appearance

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came on the same night a television documentary aired in

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which Prince Charles admitted to adultery, and the outfit subsequently

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became known as Diana's Revenge Dress. Three years later, shortly

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before Diana's death, the teenage William reportedly encouraged his mother

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to sell a collection of her dresses to raise money

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for cancer and AIDS charities. The Stambolian dress was among

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nearly 80 pieces offered and sold for approximately $ 74, 000. Now

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Sotheby's is putting the dress up for auction again on

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December 9th, and this time the sale includes documentation connecting

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William directly to Diana's original decision. According to Sotheby's, a

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rare copy of the original catalogue, numbered and signed by

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the princess and the designer of the dress, crediting Prince

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William with the idea for the sale, will be sold

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with the dress. Sotheby's has reportedly placed an estimate of

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around $ 200, 000 on the dress, although Diana's most recognisable clothing

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has sometimes sold for considerably more. In 2023, one of

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her Jacques Azaguri gowns sold for more than $ 1 million.

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There is also a charitable component to the new sale.

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A portion of the proceeds will benefit NHS Lothian Charity

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on behalf of the Royal Edinburgh Hospital, which provides mental

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health services in Scotland. That cause has a connection to

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William's current work, Mental Health Including Suicide Prevention, remains one

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of the areas supported by the Royal Foundation of the

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Prince and Princess of Wales. Before the December auction, the

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dress is on public display in London as part of

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Fashion Week, then it will travel to an exhibition at

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Sotheby's New York headquarters from December 2nd through December 8th.

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The current Princess of Wales, Kate Middleton, may be preparing

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to take her early childhood work onto a much larger

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international stage. William and Catherine's Royal Foundation is hiring a

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new project manager for the Royal Foundation Centre for Early Childhood.

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The job description points to what he calls substantive and

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complex projects involving international partners, global experts and major businesses.

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The successful candidate will help manage the centre's business and

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international work, bringing together employers, corporations, policy makers and specialists

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in childhood development. The larger goal is to make the

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economic and social case for investing in the earliest years

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of a child's life and to position early childhood as

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a shared priority across countries. business, government and society. The

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full-time position reportedly pays Â£ 45, 000 a year and offers hybrid

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working between home and the Royal Foundation's central London office.

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Hello Magazine picked up on some of the language. The

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successful candidate will work with the centre's international work streams

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and global experts and businesses, making some wonder if more

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international tours are to come. Kate appears to have at

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least one person in her life who understands that discretion

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can be a form of loyalty. her younger brother James Middleton.

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James has his own public profile, business and social media account,

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but he rarely posts photographs of Catherine, or for that

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matter their sister Pippa. When he does mention Kate publicly,

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he generally follows her lead rather than revealing anything new.

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After Catherine completed the National Three Peaks Challenge to raise

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money for the Royal Marsden Cancer Charity, James shared photographs

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celebrating the achievement. The event was already public and Catherine

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clearly wanted attention directed toward the cause. He followed a

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similar approach when she announced her cancer diagnosis. James posted

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a childhood photograph of the two of them and wrote

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that their family would climb this mountain with her just

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as they had climbed others together. The message was warm

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and personal without offering any private medical information for the

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public to dissect. That restraint may become even more valuable

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as Catherine moves closer to becoming Queen. Members of the

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royal family must constantly decide which relatives and friends can

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be trusted with information that could become extremely valuable to

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the press. James' behaviour suggests he understands that being close

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to Kate does not entitle him to turn that relationship

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into content. The wider Middleton family has followed much the

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same pattern. More Palace in just a moment. Hidden deep

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inside Hampton Court Palace is a royal wardrobe most visitors

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will never see. The Royal Ceremonial Dress Collection contains around 10,000

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items spanning more than five centuries, preserving everything from elaborate

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court uniforms to clothing worn by Queen Elizabeth, Princess Margaret

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and Diana, Princess of Wales. The Daily Express was given

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rare access to the restricted archive where the clothes are

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carefully stored away from natural light and wrapped in acid-free

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tissue paper, and the curators aren't trying to make everything

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look pristine. Stains, fading, alterations and other signs of wear

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are deliberately preserved because they can reveal something about the

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people who actually wore those clothes. Among the oldest pieces

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shown to the Express was a mock Tudor court suit

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worn by the Earl of Caledon at the coronation of

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King George IV in 1821. The garment still carries a

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small stain on one cuff. Nobody knows whether it came

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from wine, food or something else entirely. Other uniforms even

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retain old perspiration stains. It's an unusually human side of

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royal history. These weren't simply ceremonial costumes. People sweated in them,

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spilled things on them, and occasionally had to have them

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altered when they no longer fit. The collection itself dates

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to the early 1980s, when historian Audrey Bowden loaned historic

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royal palaces a significant collection of court uniforms. It has

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since grown to include evening gowns, court suits, photographs, letters, diaries,

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and scrapbooks. One of the most fascinating pieces belonged to

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a 10-year-old Princess Elizabeth. It's a Liberty floral print dress

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from 1936 with red, blue, and pink flowers. The fabric

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has faded from use, and the hem was let down

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by hand as Elizabeth grew. The dress survived outside the

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main royal collection because it had been given to Elizabeth's

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childhood nanny, Clara Knight, known within the family as Nanny Ella.

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And the date gives the little dress considerably more historical weight.

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1936 was the year Elizabeth's uncle, King Edward VIII, abdicated,

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Her father unexpectedly became King George VI, and ten-year-old Elizabeth

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suddenly became heir presumptive. So here is an ordinary-looking childhood

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dress belonging to a little girl whose entire future had

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just changed. Another garment tells the story of royal grief.

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Curators have identified a bodice belonging to Queen Alexandra, and

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it matched it to a photograph from the 1894 christening

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of her grandson, the future King Edward VIII. Today, the

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garment's colours appear subdued, Originally, however, it incorporated black with

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mauve or violet as part of Alexandra's half-mourning wardrobe. Her

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eldest son, Prince Albert Victor, had died unexpectedly in 1892

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at the age of 28. More than a century later,

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traces of the original purple can be still found beneath

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the upper layers of the fabric. But this isn't an

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archive devoted entirely to distant royal history. There is also

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a substantial collection of clothing associated with Princess Margaret and Diana,

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Princess of Wales. Margaret is represented by some characteristically colourful pieces,

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including a spectacular green gown she acquired during a 1980

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visit to the Philippines. First Lady Imelda Marcos hosted a

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private fashion show featuring the work of Filipino designer Jose

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Patoi Marino, and Margaret selected a gown covered in vivid yellow, blue,

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purple and pink flowers. Then there's Diana. The Express was

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shown in a Catherine Walker evening gown from 1991 with

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a particularly good story behind it. Diana first wore the

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off-the-shoulder floral gown during a state visit to Brazil, and

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apparently even the colours required diplomatic consideration. Brazil had recently

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lost an important football match to Argentina, so Diana and

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Catherine Walker reportedly avoided using the colours of either country's

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flag in the dress. It was fashion being used as diplomacy,

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an example of just how carefully Diana's wardrobe could be

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planned for overseas appearances. But the gown acquired another identity

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later that year. Diana wore it again at an after-party

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connected with the premiere of the Liza Minnelli film, Stepping Out.

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That appearance eventually gave the gown its nickname inside the collection,

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the Liza Minnelli dress. Most visitors to Hampton Court will

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never see these garments in person. The archive itself isn't

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open to the public, although Historic Royal Palaces has made

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a selection of about 200 pieces available to view digitally.

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And there you have it. If you'd like to email us,

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our address is thepalaceintrigue at gmail.com. If you're on Spotify,

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appreciate your support. I'm Mark Francis. My thanks to John McDermott.

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This is Palace Intrigue. Good times.

Princess Diana's 'Revenge Dress' Returns to Auction as Kate's Royal Role Goes Global

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