Catherine of Aragon’s letter to sell at auction

The collection amassed by Claude de Flers also includes missives from Brigitte Bardot and Coco Chanel, and passion-filled letters to literary great Victor Hugo from his mistress Juliette Drouet.

perhaps the most valuable document is the signed letter from Catherine of Aragon to a Spanish cardinal pleading for the pope's help in blocking Henry VIII's attempts to annul their marriage because she had failed to produce a son.

Rome's refusal to grant Henry a divorce led to a schism within the Roman Catholic Church as Henry appointed himself head of the Church of England.

The Ader Nordmann auction house expects the letter, dated 3rd October, 1529, to fetch between €35,000 and €40,000 ($43,500 and $49,500).

In Bardot's letter to record company Philips of 21st December, 1967, she urges the firm "not under any circumstances" to release her passionate duet with Serge Gainsbourg, "Je t'aime moi non plus," after her then husband Gunter Sachs objected to the recording.

It is listed at between €2,000 and €2,500.