Royal hair auction

09-01-2008 14:00

A lock of hair belonging to Britain's King Henry VIII's sixth and last wife Catherine Parr will be auctioned next week.The 16th century royal's blonde hair is expected to fetch hundreds when it goes under the hammer at London auction house Bonhams on January 15.Bonhams spokeswoman Charlotte Wood said: "We have put the price at £150-250 but that is quite a conservative estimate. We have never had the hair of a monarch go up for auction before so it is very hard to tell. If someone has a special interest in it could go for much more." The lock of hair is mounted in an oval frame on ink inscribed paper which states 'Hair of Queen Catherine Parr, Last Consort of Henry, the night she dyed September 5th 1548 was in the Chapel of Sudeley Castle, Near Winchcombe'.Wood added to Britain's Daily Mail newspaper: "The provenance of the item has been checked and we believe this is the hair of Catherine Parr. It has not had a DNA test, though."Catherine Parr - who lived from 1512-1548 - is the most married English queen, with four unions during her lifetime.She met her third and most famous husband, King Henry VIII, in 1536 after fleeing from kidnappers and seeking refuge with the king's daughter Mary Tudor.