Edinburgh psychiatric hospital set to benefit from £220,000 sale of Princess Diana’s 'revenge dress'

An Edinburgh psychiatric hospital is set to benefit from the £220,000 auction of Princess Diana’s iconic “revenge dress”, with proceeds being donated in memory of the seller’s late husband.

Diana, Princess of Wales wore a Christina Stambolian dress that became known as the 'revenge dress' as she wore it on the evening that the then Prince Charles made the admission about adultery on television. Picture: Anwar Hussein | Anwar Hussein

The unnamed donor, who bought the black silk gown at a charity auction in 1997, is giving a portion of the upcoming sale to the NHS Lothian Charity. The funds will go to the Royal Edinburgh Hospital, where her husband was cared for, to support extra care, equipment, and projects.

The famous dress, designed by Christina Stambolian, is expected to fetch between £110,000 and £220,000 when it goes under the hammer at Sotheby’s in New York on December 9.

The dress is expected to fetch up to £220,000 at auction. | Campbell Addy/Sotheby's/PA Wire

Diana made global headlines when she wore the daring, above-the-knee gown to a Vanity Fair dinner at London's Serpentine Gallery in 1994—the exact night the then-Prince of Wales publicly admitted his infidelity on national television.

The seller said: “My late husband and I knew that this dress was something special. Princess Diana was walking into the worst night of her life and you would never know it to look at her.

“It went from a cocktail dress to a statement in the time it took to photograph her. Thirty years on, you can say the words anywhere in the world and everyone knows exactly which dress you mean.”

The outfit will be sold alongside a copy of the original 1997 auction catalogue, numbered and signed by both Diana and the Greek designer.

Ahead of the December luxury week sale, the dress will go on display at Sotheby’s in London from September 18 to September 24, before embarking on an international exhibition tour stopping in Hong Kong, Geneva, and New York.

Morgane Halimi, Sotheby’s global head of handbags and fashion, praised the late princess for using fashion as a "shield and a weapon" during a highly scrutinised period of her life.

She added: “She walked into a moment in which so much of her story was being told for her and, through what she chose to wear, reclaimed the narrative for herself.”