Purchased by an online American bidder from an auction held by Burstow & Hewett Auctioneers in Battle, East Sussex, England, last week, the 1970s Raleigh Traveller ladies bike went for twice the price it was expected to fetch.
Diana, who tragically passed away at the age of 36 in a car accident in Paris – was most often seen riding the very bicycle each day to her former workplace, a nursery in London, before she married Prince Charles in 1981.
After marrying into the British royal family, the bike disappeared from the scene as it was apparently deemed “not suitable for a royal” by officials so she got rid of it.
In 2018, it fetched £9,200 when it was sold, and this time around, it was only expected to sell for between £15,000 and £20,000.
It has been described as “probably the most famous bike in the world” by auctioneer Mark Ellin, while it was listed as the “shame bike” and “a famous symbol of Diana’s oppression” by the Burstow and Hewett auction house.
The bicycle came with a letter of authenticity from Gerald Stonehill, who acquired the bike directly from the Diana. The letter mentions the conditions of the tyres as well as pen marks on the saddle.
The bike’s high sell is attributed to the enormous popularity of the Netflix series ‘The Crown’ which tells a fictionalized version of the history of the British royal family.
A prominent attorney in Baltimore, Maryland, Barry Glazer is the new owner of the historic bike.
His firm ‘The Law Office of Barry R Glazer LLC’, said that he “will be setting up a memorial dedicated to the British Royal Family’s basic racist roots. The memorial will be set up in an enclave in his office located in a historic building, utilized by the underground ‘railroad’ to assist slaves to freedom in Baltimore”.
