Diana’s ‘Revenge Dress’ Goes on Display Amid Fallout from Brother’s Book

The late Princess Diana’s iconic “revenge dress” has gone on display ahead of its official auction at Sotheby’s later this year.

The dress has gone on show amid an ongoing fallout between the palace and Diana’s younger brother, Charles Spencer, as he is set to release a new memoir, Swan Song: Diana, My Sister, which contains a series of allegations centered on the days following Diana’s death in August of 1997 and unearths painful territory for the royals.

The late princess wore the dress, a strapless black silk evening gown designed by Christina Stambolian, to a party in Kensington Gardens in London, mere hours after her then-estranged husband, Prince Charles, admitted to having committed adultery in their marriage, following years of rumors.

Her arrival at the party in 1994, and images of her in the dress, have become an iconic moment in popular culture.

The dress is currently on display and set for a global exhibition.

Right now, the dress is being displayed in London at Sotheby’s auction house on Bond Street. It is being displayed there from September 18 to September 24.

It will then be displayed in Hong Kong and Geneva, before arriving in New York on December 2. The public view in New York will be held at the Sotheby’s Breuer Building.

It will be on display until December 8 in New York, before it goes under the hammer at an auction on December 9.

Sotheby’s will put the dress under the hammer on December 9.

The dress is expected to sell for up to $300,000.

It’s the first time the dress has been up for auction in nearly three decades. The dress was previously auctioned in 1997, when the princess sold 79 of her dresses months before her death to raise money for cancer- and AIDS-related charities.

The Stambolian design was a showstopper: off-the shoulder with a chiffon train and asymmetrical hem.

Diana wore the dress to a fundraising dinner hosted by Vanity Fair at the Serpentine Gallery on June 29, 1994.

In the years since, the term “revenge dress” has been widely popularized and entered the cultural lexicon, being used to refer to instances where famous women have used fashion at pivotal moments in their lives and careers.

Morgane Halmi, Sotheby’s Global Head of Handbags and Fashion, said of the dress: “What makes this dress extraordinary is not merely that it was worn by the princess, nor that its appearance at the Serpentine event made headlines around the world. It is what it communicated.”

“On her own terms, Princess Diana turned the dress into one of the most powerful messages she ever made, during one of the most scrutinised and emotionally charged episodes of her life," Halmi added.

Belongings of Diana’s have previously sold for high prices at auction.

This includes the car that took her to the party where she wore the “revenge dress.” Arriving at the party, she stepped out of a Jaguar XJ40.

That car sold for £66,250 at an auction in Oxfordshire earlier this year.

Earl Spencer’s upcoming memoir about Princess Diana is set for release on September 22.

The book details the days after Diana’s death. In it, Spencer alleges that King Charles III "sounded giddily elated–like a lottery winner" after the princess died in a car crash and that he said, “Rest assured, we’ll forget her soon enough.”

Spencer wrote in the book: “I suspect the prince’s first reaction must have been to think more of how this event might free him to marry the woman he loved, rather than appreciating the loss of one he did not."

Buckingham Palace issued a rare and strongly worded rebuke of these allegations.

In a statement previously shared with Newsweek, a spokesperson for Buckingham Palace said: “While we do not comment on books as a matter of principle, His Majesty is mindful that the pain of fraternal grief can cloud reason, affect judgment and colour memory in ways others do not recognise, even many years after such a loss."

The British monarchy is famous for the public relations strategy “never complain, never explain.” The intervention from the spokesperson is highly unusual.

Reacting to that statement from the palace in an interview with the BBC, Earl Spencer said: “Those are exactly the words he said. I’ve only ever had two calls on the line with Prince Charles. I was hyper alert to what he was saying, and those are precisely the words that he said.”

“I’m telling the truth”, he insisted.

Princess Diana and then Prince Charles married in July of 1981. Their marriage lasted 15 years before they separated in 1992. Their divorce was finalized in 1996, a year before her death.

Earl Spencer paid tribute to his sister at her funeral, and criticized the media treatment of her, and included barbed criticisms of the royals who were in attendance at the funeral.

"Diana was the very essence of compassion, of duty, of style, of beauty," Spencer said. "All over the world, she was a symbol of selfless humanity. All over the world, a standard bearer for the rights of the truly downtrodden, a very British girl who transcended nationality.”

He described her as the “most hunted person of the modern age.”

"She would want us today to pledge ourselves to protecting her beloved boys William and Harry from a similar fate, and I do this here, Diana, on your behalf. We will not allow them to suffer the anguish that used regularly to drive you to tearful despair,” he added.

The release of the memoir comes at a turbulent time for the monarchy.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have recently relocated to the U.K. from the U.S. There have been tensions amid this move, including a dispute between the palace and Harry and Meghan over a letter sent by the head of the Royal Household, Lord Chamberlain, on Charles' behalf that sought to clarify Harry and Meghan's status after their move to Britain.

Guidance, issued to government and military officials, described them as “private citizens,” which the Duke and Duchess were reportedly unhappy with.

Speaking about the Sussexes to the BBC, Spencer described press coverage of Prince Harry and Meghan as a “cancerous influence in their life,” and said it would be “beholden on people to learn from Diana’s example.”

“I’m on my deceased sister’s sons’ side, both of them, and if either of them wanted anything, then I’d be equally there for them,” Spencer concluded.

Contact Newsweek editors on this story: Daniel Orton and Cristina Diciu.