Record-breaking royal fanatic's memorabilia is worth more than her £200,000 house

A record-breaking royalist who has created her own royal memorabilia museum has a collection which is now worth more than her £200,000 house.

Anita Atkinson, 64, from Crook, County Durham, has been building up her collection since 1977 after being gifted a double pack of playing cards featuring the silver jubilee logo.

Since then, Anita has built up a collection featuring more than 12,000 items dating back to 1760 - with her most prized possession being a framed napkin that was used by Prince Charles during a flight.

The collection is reportedly worth thousands - with a rare oil painting of the Duke of Kent likely to fetch £60,000 if put on auction.

Anita’s collection is said to be worth more than her house - which is estimated to be worth £203,000.

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But the royal historian insists she will never sell the collection as she hopes to pass it down the generations

Anita has since updated her royal museum - located in an old dairy farm at her home - to include a tribute to Prince Philip - who died last month aged 99, showcasing some of the memorabilia she has built up over the years including portraits, books, coronation tins and jubilee mugs.

Anita said: “Growing up, my mother was a royalist and that’s where my interest came from.

“In 1977, the whole world had seen the 25th anniversary of the queen’s reign and that’s how I started building a collection by accident.

"Everything you bought at the time had the silver jubilee logo on whether it was a bottle of milk or a box of matches.

“When I last counted, I had 12,152 items but I have gained a lot more since then - 70% of the items in my collection have been given to me by people wanting someone to look after their historic items.

“I thought my whole collection would fit in the old dairy farm but it doesn’t - I have 7,000 items in the museum and 5,000 in the loft in my house!

“Every item is worth hundreds - if not thousands each and it’s going to be worth a lot of money.

“For me, it’s not just about building up a collection it’s about educating people on the history of the monarchy.

“One of my aunties was a security guard at Teesside International Airport and in 1977, Prince Charles’ plane was diverted due to bad weather conditions and he landed at the airport.

“It was my birthday coming up and so she asked the Royal Flight if there was anything she could have that Prince Charles’ had used - they were intrigued.

“They gave her a paper napkin that he had used on the flight and bought me a birthday card and signed it for me - I have it framed hanging up in my house and it’s definitely one of my most prized possessions”.

After Prince Philip passed away, Anita decided to create him a memorial inside the museum.

She explained: “After Prince Philip died, I was getting frustrated by the amount of people who didn’t know anything about his history.

“They don’t realise how much work goes into the monarchy and it’s pure ignorance.

“I don’t have a huge amount of memorabilia for Prince Philip but I set up a little collection for him.

“I have items from his 60th birthday but he’s on a lot of coronation tins, jubilee mugs, golden wedding anniversary memorabilia but he doesn’t have much of his own.

“I think it’s probably because he didn’t want it”.

Anita has vowed to never sell her beloved collection and is hoping to pass it down to her grandchildren one day

She added: “I’m not interested in the value of my collection because I know I will never sell it.

“I’ve just written my will and I’ve put my four granddaughters down to have the collection much to the relief of my children!

“My son always tells me that the collection is worth more than the house and questions why I don’t sell it but I never will.

“If they want to sell it when I’m gone, they can but I’m hoping they will continue it and one of my granddaughters is very interested in the collection and learning about the monarchy.

“There are quite a few items in the collection that would be worth a lot of money and a lot of them were given to me or are charity shop finds.

“Most of the time, my museum isn’t even locked because I doubt many people would want the collection!

“A lot of people see it as junk but even if someone did want to steal it, they would need a huge wagon and it would take them weeks because there’s so much of it”.

Anita Atkinson once held the Guinness World Record in 2001 for most royal memorabilia with 1,781 individual items.