ROYAL “AMPLE” BLOOMERS UP FOR SALE

Monarch’s antique bloomers, stocking and boots are among royal wardrobe items expected to fetch more than £15,000 at auction

After more than 100 years the items are expected to fetch more than £15,000 at auction.

A pair of Queen Victoria’s “ample” bloomers as well as other clothings which have been treasured for generations by the same family, currently belong to electrical engineer Roderick Williams from Coltishall, near Norwich.

The 63-year-old has now decided to sell the collection when it goes under the hammer at Hansons Auctioneers, Etwall, Derbyshire, next Tuesday.

The royal undies are thought to have been given to Victoria’s official photographer, Alexander Lamont Henderson, by her servants. His great-great-grandson Roderick Williams said the items had been passed down the generations, but now he needed to “make some space” as reported by the BBC.

Mr Williams said his ancestor worked for the monarch up to her death in 1901, and he thought the clothes were probably given to him by royal household servants, in return for taking photographs of them.

Acutioneer Charles Hanson has pointed out that though the silk bloomers are rather on the “roomy side” the size four boots show how “dainty and narrow” Queen Victoria’s feet were.

The boots have a “guide price” of between £1,500 and £2,000 and the bloomers, dating from about 1880, are expected to fetch somewhere between £600 and £800. However, the combined lots, including the other items of clothing, are expected to sell for considerably more.

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