Car Diana emerged from in 'revenge dress' up for sale

The car that took Princess Diana to a party in her iconic "revenge dress" following public revelations about her relationship with then‑Prince Charles is set to go under the hammer.

On 29 June 1994, the princess arrived at the Vanity Fair party in London just hours after Charles admitted during a televised interview to an affair with Camilla Parker-Bowles.

She stepped out of her Jaguar XJ40 wearing a custom-made, off-the-shoulder black silk and chiffon cocktail dress with pleated detailing - later dubbed the "revenge dress" by the media.

The car had only recently joined Diana's stable, and now 32 years on is set to go up for sale at south Oxfordshire auction house The Market next month.

The Market chief executive, Mark Livesey, said: "On one hand it's a 1994 Jaguar, and on the other hand it's actually an ex-royal car as used by the late Princess Diana."

He explained that the car had been used by the princess for about three years, up until her death in 1997, and that it had "played a role in some of her most famous moments".

"She was transported all around London and UK in it and famously popped out of it wearing the black revenge dress after Charles had made a confession to the media earlier that day," he said.

The Jaguar XJ40 had been "well looked after", Livesey said, first by the Royal Estate at Kensington and then by a private owner.

"Jaguar provided cars to the Royal Family for a very long time and they produced, and continue to produce, very high quality cars," he said.

Livesey said the history of this particular car though "definitely makes it special".

"Whenever any of us actually meet or come close to a really famous person, you get a funny feeling," he said.

"To have, or even own, something that belonged to them, it definitely adds an enormous value."

On how much the car might fetch at auction at The Market - which is based on Milton Park, near Didcot - Livesey said it was "impossible to tell".

"We all have our heroes and have some people that we like more than others so they're very tough cars to value," he added.

One thing Livesey could say for certain though was that it would sell for "several times more than just another 1994 Jaguar".

"But I'm immensely pleased when things do well because it's not just the amount of money, it's actually how much it means to that person [buying it]," he said.

"They're really going to look after it, so this is going to a really good home and that's a much better feeling."

The online auction for the car begins on 1 June, and will last for seven days.

The Jaguar is not the first celebrity vehicle sold by The Market - with everything from George Michael's Range Rover to Sean Connery's BMW sold by the auction house in the past.

Picking out a favourite sale, Livesey said: "Elvis's [Cadillac] was very special."

"That was his last car and we had a photograph from Graceland of him driving it the night before he passed away and that just made it very very emotional," he said.

"I sat in the driver's seat and remember just thinking that the king had sat there once and used and loved this car."