The 35-inch sized Knickers, worn by Queen Victoria in the 1860s, sold for more than £9,375 (about $14,500) at an Edinburgh auction on Tuesday, more than three times the original estimate. An anonymous private collector bought knickers made from several yards of fine cream silk and embroidered with the letters VR, which stands for Victoria Regina.
Philip Gregory, a spokesman for Lyon & Turnbull auctioneers in Edinburgh, was unable to resist the following pun: People who collect royal memorabilia from the Victorian era see underwear as the crowning glory in their collection.
The collection came courtesy of Old Battersea House, which is the London home of the Forbes family, the American publishing dynasty. Other items from the house’s collection also sold at the auction, including antique furniture, such as the four-poster bed that Dame Elizabeth slept in with her seventh husband and twin beds once occupied by Ronald and Nancy Reagan.
In 2008, a pair of Queen Victoria’s bloomers with a 50in waist sold for £4,500 ($7,200).
