Queen Victoria's 'big pants' fetch £10,500 at auction

The auctioneer said it was the most a pair of Queen Victoria's knickers had sold for

A pair of Queen Victoria's cotton pants with a 45in (114cm) waistband have been sold for a "record breaking" £10,500 at auction in Wiltshire.

The pants, embroidered with the royal VR monogram were sold on behalf of Yesterday's World museum in Sussex.

Tora Edmonds, from Chippenham Auction Rooms, said: "We expected to get about £5,000, it's the most a pair of Queen Victoria's knickers have sold for".

In 2014, a pair of her silk bloomers sold at auction in Kent for £6,200.

'Calculated her waist'

Mrs Edmonds said the "big cotton pants" dating to the late 1890s were sold to an English woman, who was a private collector and did not want to be identified, but she assumed the pants would remain in England.

She said the woman also bought a number of other items of royal clothing and a set of replica Crown Jewels, which she purchased for £5,500.

Auctioneer Richard Edmonds said: "We've had a lot of interest in this sale and the auction room was packed with buyers and interested spectators. This is a record-breaking price for Victorian royal intimate apparel."

He said the pants were dated by measuring the waistband.

"As there's such a good photographic record of Queen Victoria, it's possible to calculate her waist measurement over time, so we know roughly when she would have worn items of this size."

The sale also included nightdresses and stockings worn by Britain's longest-serving monarch and her third child Princess Alice.

The cotton pants are embroidered with the royal VR monogram for "Victoria Regina"

Queen Victoria was on the throne from 1837 until 1901