It was revealed that the Duchess of Cambridge"s wedding dress helped attract a record number of visitors to Buckingham Palace in July and August.
By summer"s end, the Sarah Burton/Alexander McQueen creation will have helped raise ?8 million towards palace renovations and Kate Middleton"s own charity fund.
How agonising, then, to compare this success story with the sorry fate of Princess Diana"s bridal gown.
The fabulously over-the-top creation by David and Elizabeth Emanuel, which electrified watching millions around the globe as it unravelled on the steps of St Paul"s Cathedral in July 1981, has experienced a sad fall from grace.
Exhibition subsequently given the colossal upsurge of interest in British fashion following Diana"s wedding.
While the gown is now reduced to being trucked round the world to a series of ever-drearier locations so people can pay enough money to gawp at it. From next Friday it will grace, if that is possible, a casino, where the dress will be eyeballed by players more intent on blowing their cash.
John Norman claims that more than ?1.4 million has been donated to charities supported by the Diana Memorial Fund since the inception of Diana: A Celebration. These calculations are unofficial figures. But if Mr Norman is right, then this begs the question as to what happens to the rest of the profit after expenses have been deducted.
Well, in the souvenir shop, many articles for sale are not closely associated with the late Princess. And many of the proceeds are not go into the Memorial Fund actually.
Actually, there are further questions about this “industry”.
Compared with the cheering news from Buckingham Palace about the Duchess of Cambridge"s dress, this is, indeed, a depressing tale. What started out as a fitting memorial to Princess Diana, staged at Althorp, her ancestral home， has descended into a travelling roadshow.
One can only hope it never happens to Kate"s dress.
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