Princess Diana’s Iconic Dresses and Personal Items to be Auctioned in December

Diana’s memories will be auctioned off on December 7 at Lay’s Auctioneers in Penzance, Cornwall. These include five of Diana’s most iconic dresses, which Azagury calls the "Famous Five", letters, Christmas cards, and a canvas (a less expensive fabric version used for fittings), etc. The British princess wore one of these dresses during the celebration of her 36th birthday on July 1, 1997 at Kensington Palace. That day, she preferred at the last minute the dress - a black dress, with the Art Deco diamond and emerald necklace of Queen Mary - that the Moroccan fashion designer had designed for her instead of the one she had planned to wear. "I was delighted that she chose to wear the dress I had given her," Jacques Azagury tells the Daily Mail. "It was her way of thanking me." Happy to have received this dress on her birthday, Princess Diana sent a thank-you letter to the designer. "Dear Jacques. I was so touched when I opened your package," she writes on her red-bordered stationery with the royal monogram. "I am absolutely delighted to have received such a beautiful dress for my birthday. I can’t thank you enough for making this day so special. I love you very much, Diana x."

The birthday dress, plus the letter, is estimated between 15,000 and 20,000 pounds sterling, but these items could fetch a much higher price. Especially since any item that belonged to Diana is extremely sought after today. But there is one piece that Azagury will never sell: a framed photograph in a package showing Diana in three poses, wearing three of her Famous Five dresses, with the inscription: "Very dear Jacques. Much love from Diana x" "When I arrived at the store, a butler was outside and handed me this package," recalls the man who opened his flagship store in Knightsbridge, London in 1987. Inside was a framed photo of her in three of my dresses, her favorites. I was very touched. I said to myself, ’Oh my God! This so busy woman is still kind enough to do something like this for me.’ She must have chosen these photos and the frame herself. This is the last sign of affection I received." Whenever Azagury created an original design for the princess, he always made a "twin" in the same measurements, which he kept in his archives.

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Azagury first met Lady Di during his New Romantics fall/winter 1985 collection at the Hyde Park Hotel in London through Vogue fashion editor Anna Harvey. She tapped him on the shoulder and said she wanted to introduce him to someone. "I turned around and she was right in front of me," Jacques recalls, "which threw me a bit. Then we literally talked. She had this magic of putting you at ease in seconds." Since then, he has become the princess’s couturier. The last conversation between the designer and the British aristocrat dates back to August 21, 1997, ten days before her death in Paris. The princess had called him to tell him she was sending him a package. Jacques was in shock after hearing the news of the death of Harry and William’s mother. "I was coming home from a club at 6 a.m. and walking into my apartment when the phone rang," he recounts. "It was one of my friends who said, ’Turn on the TV.’ I said, ’What’s going on?’ She said, ’Diana has been killed in a car accident.’ I was completely devastated, in shock and disbelief."