Princess Diana's Ford Escort RS could fetch £100,000 at auction
Princess Diana's much-loved Ford Escort RS is up for sale - 25 years on from her death.
The historic car was driven by the princess from 1985 to 1988, during the early years of her sons William and Harry's childhoods.
After being won in a radio station competition in the ‘90s, it was privately owned for several years before becoming part of a Ford RS collection, where it has been kept in top condition.
The car, which has just 24,961 miles on the clock, goes on sale with Silverstone Auctions on 27 August at “no reserve” and is expected to go for a six-figure sum.
Registered on the 23rd August 1985, the RS Turbo Series 1 and its famous driver was to be extensively photographed outside the boutiques of Chelsea and the restaurants of Kensington over the next few years. One press photo shows William sitting in the back with his mother smiling at the wheel.
The auctioneers said: "Parallels could be drawn with the RS Turbo's reputation as the People's Sports Car and the honorific of People's Princess bestowed by the British public on Princess Diana.
"The RS Turbo was never designed to be driven by the wife of the second in line to the British throne nor to transport the future King. We note with interest that whilst Diana's later choice of luxury cars may have been more expensive when new, the Ford Escort RS Turbo far outperforms them at auction, selling in some cases for three times the price of equivalent models."
The 132 horsepower Ford was a replacement for her previous Escort - which was red and had a canvas folding roof. SO14, the royal protection service, made her change this because it gave her little privacy and no protection.
The stealthy, black Escort RS Turbo was insisted on by Diana and was given a special “stealth makeover” by Ford's Special Vehicle Engineering department.
