Even the aristocracy are suffering!
Yesterday there was an auction at Christie's which was something out of the norm and involved Princess Michael of Kent and an array of other royal family members. All in all, the Duke of Kent, Princess Alexandra, Prince Michael and Princess Michael of Kent auctioned 300 heirlooms from the Duke's late parent's estate to try and replenish their own personal finances. So how did they do?
The 300 items were expected to attract bids totalling around £1 million but rather bizarrely the lots ended up going for around £2.1 million. It seems that even in the midst of the ongoing recession there is massive interest in Royal furniture, Royal photographs and other very personal items with some of the lots for sale bringing bids which were double, treble and even quadruple initial expectations.
There is no doubt that the ongoing recession has hit, and continues to hit, each and every area of the UK economy with more and more people struggling in their own individual way. However, there would appear to be a number of investors out there with money to spend on items such as Royal memorabilia and other "once in a blue moon" merchandise. However, the definition of financial distress in the world of royalty is very different to that on the streets of the UK!
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