Queen Victoria's Pants For Auction

A pair of Queen Victoria’s cotton pants with a 45in waistband fetched £10,500 at auction.

17:02 14 July 2015

A pair of Queen’s Victoria’s cotton pants have been sold for a “record-breaking” £10,500 at auction in Wiltshire. The pants, which have 45in (114cm) waistband, was sold on behalf of Yesterday’s World museum in Sussex. 

 

Tora Edmonds, from Chippenham Auction Rooms, said: "We expected to get about £5,000, it's the most a pair of Queen Victoria's knickers have sold for".

 

In 2014, a pair of her silk bloomers sold at auction in Kent for £6,200. 

 

Auctioneer Richard Edmonds said: "We've had a lot of interest in this sale and the auction room was packed with buyers and interested spectators. This is a record-breaking price for Victorian royal intimate apparel."

 

"As there's such a good photographic record of Queen Victoria, it's possible to calculate her waist measurement over time, so we know roughly when she would have worn items of this size."