The Last Gifted Jewels That Princess Diana Wore Are Up for Auction
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Items worn by Princess Diana during one of her final public appearances will hit the auction block in June.
Diana wore a necklace, alongside matching earrings, to a performance of Swan Lake in June 1997, earning the jewelry pair the name "Swan Lake Suite".
Owned by a Ukrainian family since 2008, the items are being sold to help the family rebuild in the wake of the war.
The Royal Family has always been known for breathtakingly beautiful jewelry, but one gifted set, worn by Diana, Princess of Wales, at one of her final public appearances, is especially noteworthy—and will soon be for sale.
In June 1997, Diana attended a production of "Swan Lake" at London's Royal Albert Hall. As one of the last official engagements before her tragic death that August, the royal had anticipated—and even acquiesced to—the photo-hungry press, which captured not only the fashion icon's choice of attire, but her choice of jewels worn for the occasion.
On this day, Diana sported a silver and pearl necklace gifted to her by her romantic partner at the time, film producer Emad Mohamed al-Fayed, known as "Dodi." The necklace, comprised of 178 diamonds and seven South Sea pearls, was intended to come with earrings, but the jeweler could not complete them in time.
After the appearance, Diana returned the necklace to the jeweler to finish the earrings—but she would never receive the completed set, now called the Swan Lake Suite. On August 31, 1997, she and al-Fayed were killed in a car crash in Paris, pursued by paparazzi, in what the British Metropolitan Police's Operation Paget later declared an "unlawful killing."
Due to their association with the final days of the princess, the Swan Lake Suite has since become a treasured item amongst collectors. Held by the same owner since 2008, the jewels will soon be hitting the auction block, where Guernsey's, the New York-based auction house that will handle the sale, has reportedly given them a pre-sale value of "£4 million and £11 million," according to Yahoo! News.
As for why the jewels so intertwined with a late 1990s tragedy are now being sold, the answer is due to a contemporary tragedy: the war in Ukraine.
Now owned by a prominent Ukrainian family, the Swan Lake Suite is being sold by the family "after struggling to maintain their business in war-ravaged Ukraine, but have also vowed to donate a portion of the proceeds to the rebuilding of the country," according to Arlan Ettinger, Guernsey's president.
The items are set to be auctioned at Pierre Hotel in New York on June 27 after going on show in London.
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