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Photo: The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

An auction attendee reads the catalogue ahead of the Kerry Taylor 'Fit for a Princess' auction in London, Tuesday, March 19, 2013. The auction was of ten dresses formerly owned and worn by Britain's Princess Diana. The total hammer price for the ten lots was 719,000 pounds ($1.09 million US) not including the 20 percent buyers premium . (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)

A collection of some of Princess Diana's most memorable evening gowns has fetched over 800,000 pounds ($1.2 million) at a London auction.

Kerry Taylor Auctions say the highlight - a velvet navy gown Diana wore in 1985 to a White House gala dinner, where she danced with Hollywood star John Travolta -was sold for 240,000 pounds to a British man.

The Victor Edelstein gown came slightly below the expected maximum price, which was set at 300,000 pounds.

Other dresses at Tuesday's vintage fashion auction included several Catherine Walker gowns worn for state visits around the world.

Diana sold dozens of her dresses at a New York charity auction at the suggestion of her son, Prince William, in 1997 - months before she died in a Paris car crash.