Antiques Roadshow star sniggers as she shows off Queen Victoria's 'crotchless' knickers

WARNING: This article contains spoilers from Antiques Roadshow.

Antiques Roadshow presenter Fiona Bruce couldn’t stop herself from smiling when she spoke about a Royal icon’s “crotchless” knickers.

The hit BBC daytime series travelled to Norwich to film at the Sainsbury Centre where experts would put a price on a number of guests’ unique items.

It was a slightly different segment when Bruce got involved though as she held up a thin bit of material with the royal crest stitched into it.

“We see an awful lot of Queen Victoria’s knickers on the Antiques Roadshow," she remarked.

“I’m not quite sure why so many people have so much of her underwear, other than to say, she obviously had quite a lot of it.”

Holding up the fabric against her own slender frame, Bruce continued: “We see an awful lot of Queen Victoria’s knickers on the Antiques Roadshow.

“I’m not quite sure why so many people have so much of her underwear, other than to say, she obviously had quite a lot of it.

“But look, she was obviously a lady of some considerable girth towards the end of her reign so they’re pretty sizable.”

The 61-year-old then tied up the knickers’ string around her waist and held it out to show how large they were on her.

She then shared an interesting fact, stating that prior to Queen Victoria’s reign, women didn’t tend to wear knickers.

“If you think about Jane Austen’s time and before then, there wasn’t a lot going on under the dresses," she said.

“But towards the end of Queen Victoria’s reign, wearing knickers was a lot more common.”

Bruce then addressed the elephant in the room as she commented with a smile: “And you may have noticed the obvious design element of them, they are, well - well they’re crotchless.

“I think that’s probably the best way to put them!” she laughed.

“And that was for hygiene reasons and also for ease, under that crinoline and all those under garments.”

Bruce turned her attention to the surrounding audience as she questioned: “So ladies I just wondered what you thought about the design of Queen Victoria’s pants. A good idea?”

It was clear to see from everyone’s reactions that they didn’t approve of the crotchless knickers, turning their noses up at the idea.

Turning back to the camera, Bruce added: “No. I don’t think this is a fashion that we’re going to see again.”

Antiques Roadshow is available to watch on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.