Princess Diana was revered the world over for her impeccable fashion, but in her most private moments, her vast wardrobe secretly functioned as a personal cash stash.
Princess Diana’s former butler, Paul Burrell, revealed in his 1997 book, A Royal Duty, that the late royal, in addition to having a considerable official allowance, had created her own, off-the-books savings account out of her designer clothes by discreetly reselling pieces from her collection.
A Private Clothing Economy During her time under public scrutiny, Diana organized private, covert transactions to sell pieces of her wardrobe collected throughout her career, for modest prices.
The discount: Diana would sell luxury outfits originally worth approximately $2,660 (£2,000) for as little as $266 (£200).
The total saved: These regular sales gradually added up to more than $14,650 (£11,000) that she kept for her own personal use, hidden in an envelope in the bottom of her bedroom drawer, rather than depositing into a conventional account.
‘An outfit worth £2,000 would be sold for around £200 and someone somewhere, would be walking around in the princess’s clothes, and an envelope filled with £1,000 in cash was stashed in the bottom drawer of her wardrobe,’ he revealed.
Shocking Royal Accountants In fact, no royal financial advisors were privy to the princess’s secret stash until shortly before her untimely death in 1997, and for years Diana continued to keep it entirely off the books. But come April of that year, the princess revealed the secret to her financial manager, Michael Gibbins, handing over the bulging envelope.
Meghan Markle and Diana: similarities, differences revealed
According to Burrell, the man was utterly speechless at what he found inside, having never had any idea that the Princess had been supplementing her official income by privately hawking her designer apparel.
The envelope eventually ended up deposited into her official bank account.