'I PAID $900K FOR PRINCESS DI'S DRESS!'

Royal fan Renae is the new owner of some of Diana's most iconic outfits

- Phillip Koch

Renae Plant was just 12 years old when she had a chance encounter that would set her on a life-changing course to honour Princess Diana.

With her hair in braids and a lot of sass, the cheeky schoolgirl, who was living in Queensland at the time, decided to wag school to try to meet the most famous woman in the world on what was her first-ever royal tour in 1983.

“Princess Di came down the dirt path and I had a little pocket camera to take photos of her,” Renae tells Woman's Day.

“She came out of the ginger factory and there were all these photographers, but she beelined straight to me.” Diana shook Renae's hand, which left her speechless.

“I was enamoured when I saw her - she was so beautiful,” the 54-year-old says. “There are no words to describe the moment when I met her, especially at a young age.”

Brimming with excitement, Renae snuck under a barricade to walk behind the security guards and ladies-in-waiting, hoping to get close to Diana again, when the royal bride dropped a clay platypus someone had given her.

"I ran over to the police and said, 'Lady Di dropped this,'” Renae shares.

“He looked at me and said, 'She must have dropped this to give to you.' That tiny platypus sent me on a trajectory I could never have imagined.” Now 37 years later, Renae has one of the largest collections of Diana memorabilia in the world, worth tens and tens of millions.