The newest royal family member has some way to go before she achieves the popularity enjoyed by Prince William or Diana, Princess of Wales - that's if a car auction is anything to go by.

For a motor which once belonged to Sophie Rhys Jones has been sold for just £2,530 despite claims it might make as much as £20,000.

The Morris Minor Saloon was bought by Chelmsford bank worker Lesley Wheeler a year ago for £1,400.

But Mrs Wheeler only realised it had once belonged to Sophie, now the Countess of Wessex following her marriage to Prince Edward, when she took it for an MOT.

The 1968 burgundy-coloured car was widely believed to be a potential gold-mine and Mrs Wheeler approached top car auctioneers Brooks UK to sell the car.

She had already waited until after the June wedding to put it up for auction after friends advised her it would be worth more once Sophie was married.

An escort which once belonged to the late Princess of Wales fetched thousands when it was sold over the internet last year.

But yesterday's auction held at the National Car Museum in Beaulieu, Hampshire, saw it sell for less than twice the amount Mrs Wheeler originally paid.

Auctioneer Malcolm Barber, who conducted the sale, said there was a lot of interest in the Royal vehicle which has 103,000 miles already recorded on the clock.

It was eventually bought by a collector who plans to put it on display.

Mr Barber said: "It is not too much of a surprise it did not make any more than it did because it is a nice little car which has a fairly well-known person attached to it.

"£20,000 was probably a pretty high estimate, but who knows how much it would have got if someone higher in the Royal hierarchy had owned it.

"But even so it has still made about 300 per cent more than it usually would have done," he added

Converted for the new archive on 19 November 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.