Diana superfan who founded virtual museum about the princess takes out a FOURTH mortgage to buy a $1.9 million collection of the royal's clothes
Renae Plant went to Julien's Auctions in Los Angeles on Thursday and shelled out nearly $1.9 million on 35 ensembles worn by Princess Diana over the years.
Held at The Peninsula Beverly Hills, the 'Princess Diana's Style & A Royal Collection' sale featured more than 300 lots which included some of her outfits that have never been auctioned before.
Renae had a childhood encounter with Diana when she was a young girl and has now made it her lifelong mission to collect the Princess of Wales ' belongings to share with the rest of the world.
She launched the Princess Diana Museum in 2019 and has managed to get her hands on a whopping 2,700 of Diana's personal and historical items over the years - but all of this has come at a huge cost personal cost.
The curator confirmed it was 'maybe the third or fourth time' she and her husband, Livinio Stuyck Sanchez, had mortgaged their home.
'When you see them go for so little, you can't not preserve them, if that makes any sense. Because we're not rich. We're not wealthy. This is all from donations. We always mortgage our house when we do this kind of stuff,' Renae told PEOPLE.
She managed to bag herself some of the Princess' most famous pieces, including her legendary 'caring dress' as well as other gowns designed by the likes of Elizabeth Emanuel and Catherine Walker - whose looks are still being worn today by her daughter-in-law, Princess Kate.
Other items include dozens of Diana's shoes and the peach fascinator she wore on her honeymoon send-off with her then-husband, Prince Charles in 1981. The piece set Renae back $26,000.
Renae was overcome with emotion and collapsed onto the floor when she was told that she had won the 'caring dress'.
The vibrant blue floral frock - which Diana had worn during her tour of Australia with Charles - cost her $400,000 but with fees, the final price was $520,000.
When asked how she felt in the moment she won the item, Renae said: 'I was shaking. Diana was definitely looking over us today.'
'That's our angel number - 333, Diana's angel number,' Renae told People, referring to her auction paddle. 'She's been guiding me for the last decade to do this for her.'
Angel numbers are a sequence of three or four repeating numbers, such as 111, 222, or 444, which are believed to hold significant messages from the universe.
Renae added that she felt as though the dress 'absolutely represents her kindness, her compassion [and] her humanitarianism'.
The dress - designed by Bellville Sassoon - was one of the highlights of Julien's Auctions' collection as it was worn several times between 1988 and 1992.
Diana opted to don the garment during trips to hospitals where she would connect and speak to patients, with the late designer Sassoon once admitting that the name of the frock came from these emotional visits.
Renae also won the bid to secure Diana's 1986 Catherine Walker Falcon Evening Gown for an eye-watering $455,000, with a starting bid of $50,000. A portion of the proceeds earned from the auction went to Muscular Dystrophy UK.
The stunning all-white dress with an array of birds printed on it was designed by Catherine Walker for her 1986 Gulf Tour, which included countries Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
In 2017, the gown appeared on exhibition at Kensington Palace - where the Princess lived - for the 'Diana: Her Fashion Story' event.
A portion of the proceeds from the June 26 auction benefitted Muscular Dystrophy UK, connecting to Princess Diana's charitable legacy.
Renae says that she and her husband Livinio are planning on combining the items that they have collected over the years to create a sizeable travelling exhibit.
They want to start showcasing Diana's impressive wardrobe in the US before 'travelling the world to let everyone see it'.
However, their dream is to take pieces back to the UK 'where they belong' so they can be honoured there permanently.
Renae also won the bid to secure Diana's 1986 Catherine Walker Falcon Evening Gown at an eye-watering $455,000, with a starting bid of $50,000
Renae was 12 when she first encountered Diana in 1983 when she found a palm-size stone platypus while on a school trip to see the then-Prince and Princess of Wales.
She grew up in southern Queensland when Diana and Charles travelled there to visit a ginger factory in Yandina, about a 10-minute drive from Renae's home.
She covertly crept under the barricades which meant she saw the Princess entering and leaving the factory - before becoming speechless when Diana paused in front of her.
'She stopped for what seemed like an eternity and waited for me to say something,' Renae previously told Town & Country.
But as they swiftly moved on, she chased after them and ended up finding a small platypus figurine in the dirt.
Renae attempted to try and give it to Diana, as she thought it may have fallen out of her hand, before a police officer told her: 'She must have dropped it to give it to you'.
Since then Renae has felt as though it was her life's mission to help put all of Diana's clothing into one big collection to showcase her outstanding style to the world.
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