We're thinking the late queen would royally blush if she knew about this.
It's true, people will pay large sums of money for pretty much anything these days. The anything, in this case, comes in the form of Chippenham Auction Room's latest prize, a pair of Queen Victoria I's underpants. Yes, underpants.
As reported by People.com, the late royal's bloomers went for a record $16,300. Now, while Victoria was Britain's longest-reigning monarch (she held the throne for over 63 years), almost $20,000 (including fees) for a pair of royal bloomers still seems a bit steep.
The proud owner of these undergarments (made of white cotton and sporting a 45-inch waist) is an English collector who purchased several other royal items at the auction, but who has decided to remain anonymous.
Queen Victoria's bottoms were carefully kept in tissue paper in a temperature-controlled room, and also donned the royal's initials. In addition to these features, it was also clear that the fabric had been altered to adapt to the queen's change in size that came with aging—which meant they could be dated back to a specific decade. Exciting!
In any case, this kind of bidding on this kind of item is surprising—even to the auction house itself. "We were flabbergasted," noted auctioneer Richard Edmonds to People. "As far as we can tell, it's the highest price ever paid for Victoria's knickers, and we are delighted," he added.
We're not sure what's more interesting. The fact that this isn't the first time a royal's underpants have been put up on the auction block, or that they're running for thousands of dollars.
But then again, they are royal underpants.