The moment Princess Diana fans have been waiting for: a world-beating collection of her dresses, toys, letters – and even a piece of wedding cake – is set for its own museum, writes CAROLINE GRAHAM

From the green Burberry coat she wore dating Prince Charles to an iconic Versace gown on the cover of Harper’s Bazaar, not to mention jewelry, LPs and a childhood teddy bear, it’s a collection of treasures from every era of Princess Diana’s life.

Author and Diana expert Renae Plant has scoured the globe to amass a cornucopia of exhibits that once belonged to the late princess – including some of the most famous gowns in the world.

Yet among the most surprising things of all is that this mesmerizing collection remains entirely under lock and key, confined to the darkness of an anonymous warehouse in Los Angeles.

While millions of Diana fans have been able to view the exhibition online, Renae believes it’s time her vast collection should seen up close and in person. 

Which is why, today, she’s looking for investors to help build a physical home for this extraordinary enterprise.

‘There is something magical about seeing a dress worn by Diana with your own eyes,’ explained Australian-born Renae. 

‘Diana captured an era, a moment in time. You can’t help but be moved by it. ‘My dream is to find someone experienced in working with historical collections like this to help find the Princess Diana Museum a bricks and mortar home. The time has come.’

Among the 2700 separate items are a green velvet Catherine Walker dress worn to the National Portrait gallery in March 1995.

There’s also a couture beaded blue-grey silk dress by the same designer worn by Diana to a charity auction of her dresses in June 1997, shortly before her death. That, too, is instantly recognizable to fans.

Still more poignant is the Chanel wool dress jacket and belt which Diana wore to her grandmother and father’s funerals.

The collection, which can be viewed online in 3D, includes a replica of the ‘Swan Lake’ dress worn by Diana to a Royal Gala performance of the ballet at London’s Royal Albert Hall in June 1997, hand-beaded by designer Jacques Azagury with crystal bugle beads.

Then there’s the ‘Washington’ dress, a red silk georgette column gown worn by the princess to a Red Cross Ball Gala dinner at the British Embassy, Washington, in June 1997.

Renae’s museum covers every decade of Diana’s life.

A well-worn childhood teddy bear and Barbie doll sit alongside exquisite baby dresses, a paint box and an amethyst friendship ring.

From her teenage years the collection houses LP albums including favorite records by Abba, the Beatles, and Bryan Adams. There’s also an Elton John disc which, touchingly, has a heart drawn by Diana around the song ‘Candle in the Wind’ on the cover.

Elton would become one of Diana’s closest confidantes and this is the song, of course, that he would later rework into a poignant tribute played live at Diana’s 1997 funeral.

Visitors to The Princess Diana Museum can see images of the princess’s Hunter rainboots, worn during a photoshoot in Balmoral, Scotland in May 1981 with her then-fiancé Prince Charles ahead of their July 29,1981 wedding. They look particularly well worn-in.

The collection features Diana’s classic olive-green Burberry wool coat with ‘Diana Spencer’ sewn into the label.

She often wore this when dating Charles, including on the occasion when in October 24, 1980, she was photographed at Ludlow Races with Camilla Parker Bowles – the woman who would become her nemesis and of whom Diana famously said: ‘There were three people in this marriage.’

Diana’s ‘black sheep’ sweater is part of the collection as, intriguingly, is a ‘spare’ wedding dress made by designers Elizabeth and David Emanuel, a back-up in case the real dress was stolen or burned in a fire.

The wide-ranging collection includes more unusual items like the bicycle ridden to Kensington Palace by Diana’s friend Dr James Colthurst as he and Diana secretly taped interviews which would later be used to devastating effect by Andrew Morton in his 1992 book ‘Diana: Her True Story.’

At the other end of the technological scale, there are electronic scrambling devices the paranoid princess attached to her phones, so convinced was she that ‘men in grey suits’ at the Palace were spying on her.

Renae, herself, has conducted hours of interviews with members of Diana’s inner circle including her security guards, designers, staff members and personal hairdresser Richard Dalton, who styled the princess’s hair for a decade.

She has co-authored a new book with Mr Dalton, ‘It’s All About the Hair: My Decade With Diana’, a 444-page tome which describes how he created some of the princess’s most memorable looks.

‘It’s so important to me that Diana’s legacy is preserved,’ said Renae.

‘Before I opened my online museum I wrote to both Prince Harry and Prince William to seek their permission, which they gave. I would never have embarked on this project without their approval.’

Renae’s passion for the princess was conceived after she met Diana as a child.

That was when Diana visited The Ginger Factory in Yandina, Queensland near Renea’s hometown in April 1983 and shook Renae’s hand – although at that stage she could hardly have known she would one day curate one of the world’s great Diana collections.

Moments later, as she walked away, the princess dropped a tiny clay model of a platypus in the dirt.

Renae recalled the moment: ‘Diana and Charles were about to get into the car and I ran over to a policemen who had shut the gate and I said: ‘Lady Di dropped this!’

‘He looked me in the eyes and said: “She must have dropped it to give it to you.”’

And Renae has treasured the tiny platypus ever since.

It has even inspired the name of her Princess and The Platypus charitable foundation, to which her Diana museum belongs.

Renae met Diana for a second time when the Prince and Princess of Wales made their 1988 tour of Australia.

‘Even thought I was born in Australia, like millions around the world I could relate to Diana,’ recalled Renae. ‘She was a princess, yet she was vulnerable and struggled like the rest of us.

‘Diana exuded a compassion for humankind. She was the first royal to remove her gloves and shake the public’s hands.

‘She helped diminish the stigma around AIDS when everyone else was scared to touch visibly ill AIDS patients.

‘Diana touched millions with her style, grace and human kindness.

‘To me this has been a legacy of love. It’s about preserving and honoring Diana both now and for future generations.’

Renae bought her first Diana dress in December 2014, a red number by designer Caroline Charles.

‘My husband Livinio and I had saved up some money and were about to invest it in a restaurant. ‘But when I saw the dress – it was one Diana was photographed in carrying Prince William in 1982 – I knew I had to buy it,’ she said.

‘I see it as my mission to preserve her legacy for future generations.

‘At some stage, Diana will become the mother of the King, when William takes over, and she will continue to be a historic figure long after we are gone.’

Renae has amassed a collection of Diana’s jewelry, too.

This features a pair of Avon gold button earrings, a present from Diana’s mother Frances Shand Kydd which Diana then gave away to raise money.

The collection also includes Venus black pearl and Venus white pearl drop earrings, both gifts from her father Earl Spencer. They, too, had been donated to charity to raise money for AIDS.

A striking Butler & Wilson diamond necklace given to Diana from Prince Charles has found its way to Renae’s museum by the same route.

Perhaps one of the most poignant of Renae’s exhibits is a Jacques Azagury ‘Final Goodbye’ dress in black silk georgette.

The last gown Diana ever tried on, she wore it at a fitting with Azagury, one of her favorite designers, in August 1997. Days later she was dead.

The pins are still there, sticking into the unfinished back straps, awaiting Diana’s return.