Princess Diana’s ‘Caring Dress’ will be in the world’s largest private collection of Royal memorabilia, worth a staggering £50million

It was one of the most iconic dresses in Princess Diana’s wardrobe and its bright colours meant it became a staple when she was visiting hospitals or playing with children.

Created by the late fashion designer David Sassoon – who dubbed it the ‘Caring Dress’ – Diana wore the floral blue crepe-de-chine number seven times between her 1988 tour of Australia and her 1992 visit to the Lighthouse Project for Aids.

It became so ubiquitous that on July 21, 1992, The Daily Mail described the dress as ‘very endearing, very enduring’. ‘Looks familiar?’ it continued, ‘Yes, it’s that dress again.’

So when museum curator Renae Plant, who shook hands with Diana in Sydney when she first wore the dress, spotted that it had come up for auction in Los Angeles she was determined to buy it.

Now, a video of her jumping, dancing and falling onto the floor in excitement has gone viral after she secured the lot for £378,000 at the Peninsula Beverly Hills sale, organised by Julien’s Auctions.

And she hopes that the dress will be the highlight of a permanent museum she is hoping to open in London to display the world’s largest private collection of Royal memorabilia, worth a staggering £50million.

Last night Renae told the Daily Mail: ‘I had no idea that it had gone viral as I’m still coming up for air. It hasn’t hit me yet. I’m still shaking with nervous excitement.

Princess Diana holding a baby at a hostel for abandoned children in Sao Paolo, Brazil, wearing the ‘Caring Dress’

The Princess Of Wales talks with dress maker David Sassoon, who designed ‘the caring dress’, at a private viewing and reception at Christie’s

‘What you see when I fall on the ground is just pure shock and joy as I’m in disbelief that I was able to preserve the “Caring Dress” 37 years after I met her in Sydney wearing it for the very first time.’

Renae, 54, who owns the interactive 3D Princess Diana Museum in Los Angeles, has more than 2,700 photographs, letters, drawings, jewellery and pieces of Diana’s clothing, from her childhood at Althorp to her death in Paris in 1997.

She has now teamed up with the Exhibits Developments Group to organise a global tour of her memorabilia. The Love, Life and Legacy exhibition will begin in her home city next November before touring Asia, Australia and Europe.

Her husband Livinio is creating an interactive exhibition of other memorabilia, entitled Diana: The Experience, which will open in Dubai at the same time.

‘My goal has always been to share it with the public,’ she says. ‘My mission is to put all these pieces together, not have them scattered around the world.

‘I’m envisaging them all staying in one place, where they can be on a permanent display, rather than donating them to Historic Royal Palaces, which would rotate them.

‘It’s quite an extensive collection. We have 100 pieces of clothing worn by Diana from baby clothes to clothes she wore as a teenager as well as pieces that depict the rest of her life.

The Prince and Princess of Wales arriving in Brazil for various engagements in 1991

‘Everywhere Diana and Charles travelled in Australia, kids came on field trips to meet them,’ recalls Renae

On a visit to Australia for the Bicentennial celebrations, Princess Diana greets crowds of well wishers in the Sassoon dress at Bayview, 1988. The celebrations marked 200 years since the arrival of the first British convict ships at Sydney in 1788

‘For so long it has just been the Christie’s dresses. That was the fashion story. But this is her life story, tiny pieces from her childhood all the way through her life.’

Renae first met Diana when she was a 12-year-old schoolgirl, on April 12, 1983, at the Yandina Ginger Factory in Queensland.

Diana and Charles were on their first overseas tour with Prince William, setting a precedent which William and Kate have kept up to this day.

‘Everywhere Diana and Charles travelled in Australia, kids came on field trips to meet them,’ recalls Renae, who runs a pre-school with her husband and three children Ilan, Mateo and Deklan.

‘When the royal family visited the gingernut factory in Yandina, a small rural town in Queensland, Australia, just ten minutes from my hometown of Eumundi, my school was invited to go.

‘Most of the kids in my class treated it as “just another field trip” but I was beside myself with excitement. Ever since watching the Royal wedding on TV in 1981, I was enamoured by this real life fairytale.

‘As Diana and Prince Charles arrived at the ginger factory, I pushed my way to the front of the crowd. Charles was on my side of the path and Diana on the other, I was really focused on getting the chance to shake her hand.

Her husband Livinio is creating an interactive exhibition of other memorabilia, entitled Diana: The Experience, which will open in Dubai 

Renae first met Diana when she was a 12-year-old schoolgirl, on April 12, 1983, at the Yandina Ginger Factory, in Queensland

Princess Diana wore her iconic blue floral ‘Caring Dress’ publicly at least nine times. She is pictured here in Sao Paulo in 1991

‘They both stopped right in front of me, and she stopped to smell flowers that someone had given her. I had a tiny pocket camera with me and was shaking with excitement trying to capture as much as I could.

‘As the rest of my class was led away, I slipped away from the group and went under ropes to sneak around the back of the factory where a big garage door was open. I stayed right there for the entire duration of lunch.

‘After they finished, I found myself standing next to a group of paparazzi and I was now on the other side of the walkway from my schoolmates.

​’Diana emerged from the factory on my side of the walkway, and I was the first person in line after the photographers. The Princess came directly to me, shook my hand and waited for me to say something. I was speechless.

‘As Diana finished saying farewell to the people lining the exit, I went under the barricade again, now following Charles and Diana down the dirt path toward their awaiting black Rolls-Royce.

‘A friend yelled out, “Renae! Diana dropped something!” I bent down and picked up a clay platypus that someone had given her. I went back to school and was in a lot of trouble for missing roll call and lunch, but it was totally worth it.’

Six years later, when she was living in Sydney, Renae met the Princess again. It was January 31, 1988, and Charles and Diana were attending mass at St Andrew’s Cathedral.

‘It was a bloody hot, hot day and a group of friends and I were headed to Bondi Beach,’ she recalls. ‘I was wearing a white bikini tube top and white shorts.

‘We all got off the bus at St. Andrew’s Cathedral and there was a massive crowd outside. I asked someone what was going on and once I found out that Prince Charles and Princess Diana were at church for mass that day, that was it.

‘I was in position to meet my princess not once, but twice in my lifetime. I quickly found a milk crate to stand on so I could see over the crowd.

‘When Diana saw me, she reached up over the crowd and shook my hand. As you can imagine, that was a dream come true, and definitely the beginning of a long journey – a lifelong passion for the Princess.’

The Princess & The Platypus Foundation, the nonprofit organisation behind The Princess Diana Museum, is at www.theprincessandtheplatypus.org.