Rare Dom Pérignon champagne from Charles and Diana's wedding to be auctioned in Denmark
- - Rare Dom Pérignon champagne from Charles and Diana's wedding to be auctioned in Denmark
JAMES BROOKS December 11, 2025 at 7:21 AM
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1 / 3Denmark Royal Champagne AuctionThomas Rosendahl, head of wine department of Bruun Rasmussen auction house, holds a bottle of Dom Perignon Vintage 1961 champagne, specially produced for wedding of The Prince of Wales and Lady Diana in 1981, in Lyngby, Denmark, Wednesday, Dec. 3, 2025. (AP Photo/James Brooks)
LYNGBY, Denmark (AP) â It was a wedding that captivated the world â in 1981, Lady Diana Spencer said âI willâ to Prince Charles, becoming Princess of Wales and bringing youth and glamour to Britainâs royal family.
More than 40 years after the wedding and many years after the marriage fell apart, royal fans will be able to buy a rare part of that historic day â or perhaps a sip of it.
Danish auction house Bruun Rasmussen is putting an exclusive magnum of Dom Pérignon Vintage 1961 champagne that was specially produced for the occasion under the hammer this Thursday.
âThis is the first time Iâve ever seen it,â Thomas Rosendahl, head of the auction houseâs wine department, said in a recent interview with The .
âItâs really, really rare and a bottle with that royal provenance," he added. "Iâve never seen anything like that before.â
Prince Charles, now King Charles III, married Lady Diana Spencer in Londonâs St. Paulâs Cathedral on July 29, 1981. The ceremony was followed by a lavish reception at Buckingham Palace.
Charles and Diana separated in 1992 and divorced in 1996. A year later, she and companion Dodi Fayed died in a high-speed car crash in Paris.
The champagne was a limited-edition wedding release, created to celebrate the union.
A unique label reads: âSpecially shipped to honor the marriage of His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales and Lady Diana Spencer. 29 July 1981.â
Rosendahl says only 12 were made and were intended to be opened on the day. Itâs not known what happened to the others, perhaps gifted to guests.
âIt was a celebration from Dom PĂ©rignon to the wedding,â explains Rosendahl.
âThey also got ⊠normal bottles that were served at the wedding, but these bottles were just forgotten or kept away.â
Little was revealed about the seller. Rosendahl only said that itâs a Danish collector who previously purchased the bottle from a London wine merchant.
The bottle is expected to fetch up to 600,000 Danish kroner (around 81,000 euros or $93,000) when it is auctioned at Bruun Rasmussenâs auction house in Lyngby, 12 kilometers (7œ miles) north of Copenhagen.
Rosendahl said that heâs been contacted by âa lot of wine collectorsâ asking about the magnum, its provenance, and how it was stored. And tests suggest itâs still drinkable.
âThereâs a lot of collectors out there for royal memorabilia, special memorabilia from Lady Dianaâs wedding. So, it could be a collector of royal memorabilia, or it could be a collector of wine,â he said.
Henrik Smidt, who is the fine wine manager at Danish wine merchant Kjaer and Sommerfeldt in Copenhagen, expects the magnum to achieve a high price.
âYou have the combination of one of the most famous weddings ever, Lady Diana and Prince Charles. A Dom PĂ©rignon, one of the most famous brands in the world from a very rare vintage," Smidt said. "All wine connoisseurs, all wine collectors would love to have Dom PĂ©rignon in their cellar."
âMy guess is that it will not be a wine connoisseur who will buy this bottle of wine, more likely a collector of royal artifacts or even potentially a museum," he said.
Source: âAOL Entertainmentâ