Princess Diana’s Wedding Champagne Is Up For Auction

Fancy owning a piece of royal history? Now’s your chance, as a bottle of champagne from Princess Diana and the then-Prince of Wales’ wedding is going under the hammer.

A Magnum Of Princess Diana & Prince Charles’ Wedding Champagne Is Being Auctioned

Back in 1981, Dom Pérignon landed a very special commission: to produce a limited edition champagne for the wedding of Lady Diana and the Prince of Wales (now King Charles III). The Vintage 1961 (selected as it was the year of Diana’s birth) was created in small quantities with unique labels exclusively for the royal nuptials, which took place on 29 July 1981. But – a rarity in the world of weddings – there was some champagne leftover, and now one of the magnums is being auctioned by Danish house Bruun Rasmussen. 

According to the BBC, just 99 bottles and 12 magnums of the vintage were shipped across from France for the wedding. It’s not the first time one has been up for sale, though: back in 2004, another of the magnums was auctioned in Swindon after being discovered in the loft of retiring pub landlord Brian Minninghan. He reportedly paid £100 for the bottle in 1987, but it was valued at £2,000 to £3,000 by Dominic Winter auction house. Another of the magnums, meanwhile, is believed to have sold for £2,200 in America a few years prior.

Nonetheless, Thomas Rosendahl, Head of the Wine Department at Bruun Rasmussen, expects a lot of interest – both among wine collectors and royal enthusiasts. ‘Vintage 1961 is one of Dom Pérignon’s most coveted vintages,’ he says. ‘This special edition was produced in extremely limited numbers and exclusively for the official festivities and selected guests of the royal wedding.

‘This is a champagne created for a historic royal occasion, making it extraordinarily rare. It represents not only a highly esteemed Dom Pérignon vintage but also a unique piece of cultural history.’

Naturally, it will cost a pretty penny: the magnum is valued at a whopping EUR 67,000 – 80,000, with the auction set to take place on 11 December. 

The wedding of Charles and Diana was one of the most high-profile events in royal history, streamed on TV and watched by an audience of 750 million people across 74 countries. A public holiday was declared, and over 600,000 people lined the streets to catch a glimpse of a 20-year-old Diana donning an ivory taffeta wedding dress, made by husband-and-wife duo David and Elizabeth Emanuel – complete with a 25ft sequin-encrusted train.

After tying the knot at St Paul’s Cathedral, a grand celebration took place at Buckingham Palace with 120 guests including First Lady Nancy Reagan, Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and Princess of Monaco Grace Kelly. Champagne was just one part of the lavish menu, which drew on French cuisine – in line with royal tradition. The meal kicked off with a quenelle of brill (a fish dumpling in lobster sauce) followed by a dish named after Diana, ‘Supreme de Volaille Princess de Galles’, chicken breast stuffed with lamb mousse, then wrapped in brioche, served with fava beans, cream of corn and new potatoes. This was followed by a pudding of strawberries with clotted cream, plus an array of 27 gourmet cakes – alongside, of course, a traditional five-tiered fruitcake, laced with rum and designed by David Avery. On top of the fizz, guests were served wines including Brauneberger Juffer Spatlese 1976 (a Reisling), Chateau Latour 1959 and Taylor 1955, a vintage port.

Sounds extravagant, but according to historian Angela Clutton, this was actually ‘a distinctly simpler menu with few courses than there would have been for earlier generations’. 

The auction will take place on 11 December 2025 at Bruun Rasmussen, find out more here.