Kate Middleton's old car going for more than £25k

Aldermaston man hopes eBay auction of Duchess' old car gains him enough money for a deposit to buy a house

A CAR once owned by the Duchess of Cambridge has attracted several bids on eBay after a West Berkshire man keen to cash in on his piece of royal memorabilia put it up for auction.

The 10-year-old blue Volkswagen Golf may soon be purchased for more than twice the amount it was initially bought for by Kate Middleton, long before she married Prince William.

The current owner of the car, Sonny Brazil, of Aldermaston, hopes to put the money generated from the sale towards a deposit for a new house.

Documents show that the first owner of the vehicle was Miss Catherine Middleton, of Bucklebury, who used the car until 2007, when she passed it on to her brother James.

The car was then part-exchanged by Mr Middleton to Sonny's father Al Brazil, of Motor Carriage Company, two years later, with Sonny taking ownership of it in April 2009.

Since then, the 21-year-old has used the car sparingly, choosing instead to keep the vehicle, which has a 1390cc engine and about 62,000 miles on the clock, safe.

He said: “When I saw who had had the car it was quite a surprise and I thought it might be a nice piece of history.”

The former Kennet School pupil, who now works for an IT company, said he had been deliberating over whether or not to keep the car, although he said he now felt it was worth selling.

He put the car up on the internet auction site last week with a starting price of £20,000, adding on the item description that he believed this was the “best piece of Royal history anyone could have,” although initial interest from bidders was slow.

He is not, however, auctioning off a set of cufflinks found in the car and said that after careful consideration, he thought that as they may have personal connections to the Middletons he had decided to pass them back to the Middleton family.

He said: “I feel that this is where they belong regardless of any value.”

By yesterday evening (Thursday), nine bids had been placed for the car, although the reserve price had still not been met.

However, Mr Brazil said he had been contacted by people in Germany, Canada and the USA, with more than 40,000 people ‘watching' the item worldwide.

“It has generated a lot of interest,” he said.

“At the moment I think most people are clicking to watch the item as they want to see what is happening.

“But I am pretty sure there will be a rush though towards the end.”

The sale ends just before 8.30pm on Sunday (July 24).