An extravagant collection of fine art that belonged to Boris Johnson's ex-mother-in-law will go under the hammer and is expected to fetch up to £40,000.

The items belonged to Italian writer Gaia Servadio, whose daughter Allegra Mostyn-Owen was married to the former Prime Minister from 1987 to 1993.

The pair met at Oxford University during their studies and they got married when they were 23 - but split up when Mr Johnson got Marina Wheeler pregnant.

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Ms Servadio, who died in August 2021, had her first novel 'Tanto gentile e tanto onesta' published in 1967 and she wrote a series of fiction and non-fiction books until then.

The collection includes an oil painting of Queen Anne of Denmark, who was also the Queen consort of England and Ireland from 1603 to 1619.

The portrait was painted by Flemish artist Paul Van Somet and is expected to fetch £20,000 to £30,000 at auction.

An oil painting of King Henry VIII, that was believed to be created when the monarch was 41, is expected to fetch £8,000 to £12,000 when that goes under the hammer.

(Image: SWNS)

And a picture by artists Nicolas Poussin and Jean Lemaire called 'Theseus Rediscovering His Father's Sword' will be going to auction.

It is expected to reach a whopping £20,000 to £40,000.

Daniel Hunt, who owns Sloane Street auctioneers in London, says he is "delighted" with the collection.

He said: "We are delighted with this catalogue, which shows clearly just how important a part women played in politics, history and the arts from early on.

"To cap it all we have the personal collection of Gaia Servadio, an Italian writer of distinction, who achieved fame with the outstanding success of her first book while still in her 20s."

The collection will go to auction on July 3 and live bidding is available here at www.sloanestreetauctions.com.