Princess Diana's First Work Contract, on Which She Lied About Her Age, Sells for Over $10,000 at Auction

Diana worked as a nanny and nursery school assistant before marrying the future King Charles

The future Princess Diana leaves her London home on Nov. 12, 1980. Photo: Central Press/Hulton Archive/Getty

Even Princess Diana exaggerated on her work résumé.

What is believed to be the late royal’s first work contract sold at auction for $10,500. Lady Diana Spencer filled out the form for the nanny agency Solve Your Problem Ltd. in May 1979 by hand — and the contract included a lie about her age.

The 17-year-old Diana put her date of birth as “July 1st, 1960,” a year off from her actual birthday in 1961 to make her appear over 18. According to Auctioneum Ltd. in Bristol, “The vendor having always been told that this was thought to be deliberate, Diana making herself appear older in order to get a job quicker, or receive more pay.”

The lie appeared to be caught, with “nearly 18” penned in blue ink next to her stated date of birth.

The form also included Diana’s London address, telephone number, religion and desired start date, to which she wrote, “Soon as possible.” Her listed skills included “cook – basic,” “housework,” “animals” and “ballet dancer.”

On the lower part of the form is the note that seems to be from the reviewer: “Lovely girl — send anywhere.”

Princess Diana’s work contract from 1979, which sold at auction in 2024.Auctioneum Ltd

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Auctioneer Andrew Stowe told the BBC that interest in the work contract came from all around the world, with bids from America, Hong Kong, Canada and Australia.

“Princess Diana, her life and her story hold a very special place in so many people’s hearts, and the result of this auction shows that she is still well remembered all around the world,” he said. “At face value, this is just an everyday work contract; a piece of office stationery that lived in a filing cabinet alongside hundreds of others. Yet just over two years later, Diana Spencer would become Princess Of Wales, and her life, and the whole of our history, would never be the same.”

Stowe added that the contract was “one of the last remaining snapshots of Diana’s ‘normal’ life.”

Lady Diana Spencer, later Princess Diana, pictured at the London kindergarten where she worked on September 18, 1980.Bill Rowntree/Daily Mirror/Mirrorpix/Getty

Diana worked as a nanny, mother’s helper and nursery teacher’s assistant before she married Prince Charles in July 1981 and became a full-time working member of the royal family.

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Author Wendy Holden, who did in-depth research into the late Princess Diana for a novelization of her extraordinary life, previously told PEOPLE that Diana was the “particular kind of girl” they wanted the then-heir to the throne to marry.

Princess Diana and Prince Charles after their wedding on July 29, 1981.Terry Fincher/Princess Diana Archive/Getty

“It was a collision between different aspirations and ideas. The royal family wanted Charles to get married because he was 30, and they wanted a particular kind of girl,” Holden told PEOPLE last year. “She needed to be young, she needed to be aristocratic and she needed to be without a past. It was a very pragmatic decision. She was practically the only person who was left. He had had so many girlfriends by then.”

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Princess Diana’s First Work Contract, on Which She Lied About Her Age, Sells for Over $10,000 at Auction

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