LONDON.- A 1996 Audi Cabriolet 2.6 just like the one owned by Princess Diana, and used in the film Diana featuring Naomi Watts as the Princess, will be sold by
H&H Classics at their next auction sale on May 18th at Donington Park.
The elegant Santorin Blue convertible with charcoal leather seats has done 144,000 miles but can still turn heads according to Damian Jones, Sales Manager for H&H Classics.
The car, Reg. No. N215 NGC, has come to H&H specifically because the owner was impressed by the marketing and result of the Prince Philip Lagonda which made automotive history on April 20th at Duxford. The royal car sold for more than four times the previous record for a Lagonda 3 Litre at auction (£80,000) making a whopping £350,000 to stunned disbelief from the classic car world.
When the film Diana was first shown in 2013, Pakistani heart surgeon Dr Hasnat Khan, Princess Dianas former lover, criticised the film, which portrays their love affair. The heart surgeon said that the film, starring Naomi Watts and Naveen Andrews, was based entirely "on hypotheses and gossip" and vowed never to watch it. The affair is believed to have lasted two years from 1995 until 1997.
The film Diana, is based on Kate Snell's 2001 book Diana: Her Last Love. Dr Hasnat, who was nicknamed 'Mister Wonderful' by the late Princess is on record as saying there wasn't any hierarchy in our relationship. She wasn't a princess and I wasn't a doctor."
Diana's close friend Jemima Khan revealed in an exclusive interview with Vanity Fair that the Princess was so "madly in love" with Hasnat Khan that she "wanted to marry him, even if that meant living in Pakistan."
During her time with the heart surgeon, Princess Diana used her Audi Cabriolet to drive herself around London.
Damian Jones of H&H said: Its difficult to predict a price. The car was not owned by the Princess but was rather a star in a film. That said, we recently achieved a world record of £54,000 for a Ford Capri 3.0S, Bodies car from The Professionals.