A ROYAL carriage made for King William IV has sold for £247,900 at an auction in Kidlington.

Bonham's auctioneers said the unique carriage attracted an "awful lot of people", who packed out their showroom yesterday afternoon.

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In the end, it was sold by an anonymous collector "from the continent" to an anonymous online bidder who would not reveal what continent he was on.

The action house said: "We were expecting an awful lot of people and they all turned up so it was a busy auction room. It really was the talking point of the carriage world.

"The carriage was fastidiously restored, it was just a fantastic item."

He said the winning bidder had battled it out with another bidder who was in the room.

The landau carriage, built in 1835, had an estimate of between £200,000 and £300,000.

Constructed by Adams and Hooper on a royal commission, the landau would have been used by the king's courtiers and possibly by the monarch himself.

It was sold by the Royal mews in the early part of the 20th Century after which its history is uncertain but it was probably saved because of its Royal history.

It was acquired by famous American collector James Coson and is featured in the book of his collection published in 1989, complete with a foreword from Prince Philip.

When the Coson collection was sold its new owner restored the Landau to its original specification.

The carriage was sent to the restorers Stolk of Holland who returned the Landau to its former grandeur.