An auction house is expected the spark fevered excitement when it puts Lord Lucan’s personal belongings under the hammer.
Items including an ermine gown, customised top hat and portrait are set to be snapped up by curious buyers at Holloway’s Auctioneers in Banbury, Oxfordshire.
Considered one of the greatest murder mysteries in British history, the disappearance of notorious aristocrat Lord Lucan following the death of his nanny in 1974 continues to be shrouded in intrigue and speculation.
The auction comes some four months after the death of Lady Lucan who left her multi-million pound fortune to the homeless charity Shelter, before taking her own life with a lethal cocktail of alcohol and drugs.

Other lots in the auction include a portrait of John Bingham, an ice bucket, a coat of arms for the Lucan family, walking sticks and an umbrella, photos of Lady Lucan and their children, a red robe, and a flag from his boat.
Also up for sale is a chair which Lord Lucan’s grandmother sat on at the coronation of King Edward VII in 1902.
The top hat made by one of the best milliners in the world features an L stitched inside it.
Veronica, the Dowager Countess of Lucan, was found dead at her £2.9million home in Belgravia, London, in September and the items were taken from her home shortly after.
Auctioneer James Lees is uncertain how much the items will sell for, but said they are sure to capture the imagination of those curious about the disappearance of the mysterious earl.
He said: ‘We’re happy to have [the lot] and there are only a couple of pieces that have any value without the Lord Lucan link.
‘If it wasn’t of the Lucan estate, it wouldn’t be worth that much, but what gives it that added zest is his notoriety and I think there’s an element of being a bad boy about him.
‘His infamy is what I’m selling here and the mystery, but I have absolutely no idea how much it will go for.’
The collection will go under the hammer at Holloway’s on February 13. See www.hollowaysauctioneers.co.uk.
An inquest revealed 80-year-old Lady Lucan had killed herself in September after taking a cocktail o falcohol and drugs after wrongly believing she was suffering from Parkinson’s disease.
The aristocrat was estranged from her three children George, Frances and Camilla and chose to remove them from her will, leaving all her possessions to Shelter, an organisation which helps the homeless.
Speaking after the hearing, Camilla Bingham, QC, told the Mail On Sunday: ‘Mummy left her estate to the homeless charity, Shelter.’
The total figure of Lady Lucan’s inheritance is unknown but the sale of her Belgravia property alone is thought to run into the millions.
The reasons behind her decision to select Shelter as a charity were not made clear during the hearing however a coroner heard how towards the end of her life, Lady Lucan became increasingly reclusive.
Lady Lucan’s husband, John Bingham, the 7th Earl of Lucan, disappeared in November 1974.
Lord Lucan vanished following the discovery of the body of nanny Sandra Rivett at the family’s home at 46 Lower Belgrave Street, central London, on November 7 1974.
Although officially declared dead by the High Court in 1999, he was reportedly sighted in Australia, Ireland, South Africa and New Zealand, and claims even surfaced that he had fled to India and lived as a hippy called ‘Jungly Barry’.
On the night of his disappearance, Lady Lucan was also beaten severely before she managed to escape and raise the alarm at a nearby pub, the Plumbers Arms.
Lord Lucan’s car was later found abandoned and soaked in blood in Newhaven, East Sussex, and a year later an inquest jury declared the wealthy peer was the killer.
In 2017 Lady Lucan gave a television interview in which she said she believed Lord Lucan had made the ‘brave’ decision to take his own life.