A pair of Queen Victoria’s cotton underwear worn by her during the last 10 years of her life are to be sold at an auction in the UK and the 125-year-old apparel is expected to fetch several thousand pounds.
The pants, embroidered with the royal VR (Victoria Regina) monogram, are being sold on behalf of Yesterday’s World museum in Sussex.
“We’ve been able to date the pants by measuring the waistband and they are from the last 10 years of her life,” Auctioneer Richard Edmonds said, referring to the cotton pants with a 114 cm waistband.
The royal intimate apparel – described as in “excellent condition” – is expected to fetch several thousand pounds when it goes under the hammer on July 11.
Edmonds, from Chippenham Auction Rooms, said he used the “tried-and-tested method” of measuring the waistline to date the underwear to about 1891.
“Earlier in her life she was slimmer but her pants got bigger as she got older,” he was quoted as saying by the BBC.
“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.”
According to Edmonds, the underwear was bought by Yesterday’s World museum from a descendant of one of Queen Victoria’s ladies-in-waiting.
“Items of Queen Victoria’s clothing were often given to members of the royal household, particularly after her death in 1901,” he said.
“And they’re stamped with the royal crest which proves they’re from the royal wardrobe.”
The sale also includes nightdresses and stockings worn by Britain’s longest-serving monarch and Princess Alice.
Also included in the sale are stockings and shoes worn by Queen Victoria’s third child Princess Alice and replicas of the Crown Jewels.
In 2014, a pair of Queen Victoria’s silk bloomers sold at auction in Kent for 6,200 pounds.
Victoria was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 1837 until her death at the age of 81 in 1901.