Princess Diana's dresses to be auctioned in Canada

Fourteen dresses worn by Princess Diana, including a blue silk velvet gown she wore to a 1985 White House dinner, will be put up for sale next month, their Florida owner said on Friday.

The value of most of the dresses in the collection ranges between USD 175,000 to USD 550,000, according to Waddington's, the Canadian auction house that will handle the sale in Toronto on June 23.

Also see: Princess Diana dresses sell for $276,000 at auction

The blue gown, however, is listed at between USD 1 million and USD 1.25 million. Diana was wearing it when she famously danced with US actor John Travolta at a White House dinner hosted by President Ronald Reagan and his wife Nancy.

The dresses were bought as an investment by Tampa businesswoman Maureen Dunkel for a total of USD 700,000 in 1997 eight weeks before Diana was killed in a Paris car crash.

After Diana's death, Dunkel organized a non-profit foundation to take them on tour and raise money for Diana's charities.

The collection has been seen in several cities in the United States, Canada and New Zealand and was on display for 10 years at London's Kensington Palace, where Diana lived after her divorce from Prince Charles, Dunkel said.

Toronto was one of the tour's most popular spots, she said.

"It has been an odyssey. Now is the time to wave goodbye," Dunkel said in an interview. She added that she hoped someone would buy all the dresses and keep the collection together.

The sale will take place a week before Diana's son Prince William and his wife Kate arrive in Canada for a week-long visit. They were married April 29 at Westminster Abbey.

The dresses will be on view at Waddington's from June 21 to June 23. Pictures and estimated values of the dresses can be seen on Waddington's website: www.waddingtons.ca.

Bids can be made in person or by telephone.