Prince Charles and Princess Diana’s wedding wine failed to sell at auction
A magnum of Dom Pérignon 1961 which was specially produced for the Royal wedding of Lady Diana Spencer to the then Prince of Wales (now HRH King Charles III) failed to sell at auction last month.
The bottle, was one of 12 magnums created as a special edition exclusively for the royal wedding of Lady Diana Spencer and the then Prince of Wales, which took place on 29 July 1981 at St Paul’s Cathedral in London.
It was included in a sale with Danish auction house Bruun Rasmussen, with an estimate of estimate of €67,000–80,000, having been consigned by a Danish collector who had purchased the bottle from a London wine merchant, the auction house said.
Prior to the sale, Thomas Rosendahl, head of the wine department at Bruun Rasmussen said the 1961 vintage was “one of Dom Pérignon’s most coveted vintages”, and the bottle had an estimate of €67,000–80,000.
A spokesman from the auction house said there had been “great public interest” in the sale, but that ultimately the bids “did not reach the desired minimum price [the reserve], and therefore it was unfortunately not sold”.
It follows the sale of another boxed bottle at local Derbyshire auction house Bamfords in November, which sold for £3,200, which highlights the difficulty in pricing exceptionally rare bottles, as well as the danger of a straight comparison, where provenance, bottle conditions, and wine levels may differ.
Demand for the 1961 vintage
Speaking about the market, French auction house iDealwine told db that while it hadn’t sold a bottle of the special edition bottled for the royal wedding, it has sold several bottles of Dom Perignon 1961 in recent years, with one bottle coming to market in 2025, and two in 2024, although before that, it hadn’t appeared since 2021.
The vintage was “one of the most coveted champagnes on our site, even without the added allure of a limited-edition royal wedding label”, international marketing manager Órlaith Moore Smith said.
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“1961 is a highly prized vintage in all French regions, particularly in Champagne and Bordeaux,” she added. “More than 600 wine lovers on iDealwine are actively searching for this 1961 Dom Perignon bottle.”
A bottle of the Dom Perignon 1961 appeared only once at auction in 2025, she said – selling on iDealwine for €412 (including commission) in August. The hammer price of €329 “a little below” the €400 estimate, she said, which was attributed to the age of the bottle.
“As wines pass their peak, they become more attractive to collector’s and less appealing to wine lovers,” she said.
Furthermore, although provenance and authenticity may be guaranteed at auction, “there is no guarantee that the wine is preserved”.
“This reduces the appeal to wine enthusiasts who may otherwise be enticed by such a rare bottle and limits the scope of the auction market to royal family collectors.”
So despite the publicity generated by the Rasmussen sale – and the scarcity of the bottle – the headlines “did not garner enough attention from buyers willing to bid at the reserve”.
If given a choice between the two, a more wine-focused enthusiasts may be more likely to focus on sourcing the 1961 Dom Pérignon with an estimate nearer the €400 price tag.
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