The designers of Princess Diana's iconic wedding dress are fighting over historic sketches of it in court
- The designers of Princess Diana's wedding gown are taking each other to court.
- Elizabeth and David Emanuel, who divorced in 1990, are in a legal battle over sketches of the dress.
- David is suing his ex-wife for auctioning off sketches of several outfits they made for Diana.
They may be behind the most iconic wedding dress of all time, but David and Elizabeth Emanuel's love story didn't exactly end in happily ever after.
The once-married Welsh and British designers - who divorced in 1990 - are currently battling it out in the courts over sketches of Princess Diana's legendary gown.
David Emanuel is suing his ex-wife for auctioning off sketches of several outfits they made for Diana in the 1980s, including the memorable wedding gown, according to MailOnline.
Representatives for David Emanuel declined Insider's request for comment. Representatives for Elizabeth Emanuel did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
MailOnline reports that David is suing Elizabeth over a sketch of the dress that Diana wore when she tied the knot to Prince Charles in 1981, as well as a sketch of the blouse she wore for their official engagement photo in Vogue and sketches of several other dresses that Diana selected for an official engagement, film premiere, and royal tour.
David's lawsuit claims that Elizabeth reportedly made copies of their original sketches for an auction called "Passion for Fashion" with Kerry Taylor Auctions in London without his consent, MailOnline reports.
The lawsuit, viewed by MailOnline, states that Elizabeth "created eight drawings which constitute a reproduction of the design drawings" that the couple had originally made together. The suit claims that the sketches sold for between $686 and $3,845 (£500 to £2,800) from December 2018 to December 2020.
According to MailOnline, David sought an interim injunction to ban Elizabeth and Kerry Taylor Auctions from selling the sketches, claiming that he and his ex-wife had agreed they would not use the Emanuel name for their individual professional endeavors.
Kerry Taylor told Insider that she was "ordered to sell the sketches by court order."
"The sketches were clearly signed 'Elizabeth Emanuel' and bore her own studio stamp," Taylor added. "I was asked to sell them by the judge and did so. The sketches were legally sold."
According to court documents obtained by MailOnline, David claims that Elizabeth is infringing his copyright and demands that she stop selling the sketches without his consent.
He is asking the court to declare that he and Elizabeth jointly own the copyright to the sketches. He has also requested for copies of the sketches to be destroyed, and he wants a share of any profits made from them.
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