A LONG-lost sports car first owned by a British-born princess and recently found on a Caribbean island is set to go under the hammer in Leominster.

Built in February 1962, less than one year after the launch of the E-Type at the Geneva Motor Show, the car 'Aga Khan Jaguar E-Type’ is among the first few hundred Roadsters to be made in right-hand drive and retains several early features that are highly prized by collectors today.

The only RHD E-Type Roadster ever supplied new to the French market, it was first owned by Princess Nina Aga Khan.

After taking up a career in modelling, Nina Sheila Dyer moved to Paris aged 20 where she became the top model for couturier Pierre Balmain and soon married billionaire Baron Hans Heinrich von Thyssen.

He lavished her with gifts including expensive sports cars, millions of pounds’ worth of jewellery, her own Caribbean island and two black panthers which accompanied her everywhere.

However, the couple were divorced within two years.

One of Nina’s affairs was with Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan – a wealthy member of the Persian ruling elite who was the son of Sultan Muhammad Shah Aga Khan III and claimed direct descent from the Prophet Muhammad.

They married in Switzerland in 1957, Nina converting to Islam and taking the name Princess Shirin Khan.

She was showered with gifts and jewellery and given the E-Type Roadster, her British ancestry accounting for the fact that it was ordered in right-hand drive.

However, once again, the marriage ended in divorce.

With two failed marriages behind her, no children, a flagging modelling career and barely any real friends, Nina retreated to her Caribbean island taking her beloved black panthers and E-Type with her.

Tragically, she took her own life after returning to France and the E-Type disappeared from view, presumed lost for ever.

By a remarkable stroke of fortune, an Englishman holidaying in Jamaica last year was told of an old car in storage on the island.

He went to see it, liked what he saw, a deal was struck and it was soon on its way back to the land of its birth. It was only after he applied for a heritage certificate that he realised the car was no ordinary E-Type and had such a fascinating story.

The car is due to be offered at auction by Brightwells in Leominster on November 23 and is expected to be worth in excess of £200,000 once it has been fully restored.

The car will also be displayed at the NEC Classic Car Show from November 11 to 13.