A linen shirt belonging to Napoleon has been sold for �40,630 ($59,790) at auction in London.

The shirt was found in the emperor's carriage, after the battle of Waterloo and is being sold to raise money for homeless people in Munich.

Napoleon owned nine dozen shirts in 1811

When Napoleon was defeated at the hands of Wellington and Blucher in July 1815 his carriage was captured by a Prussian major, and the shirt was among the contents.

It bears a discreet imperial monogram, and was neatly repaired by the emperor's seamstress, according to the Sotheby's auction house.

Both the carriage and the items inside were sold to the British Government, and later acquired by a British businessman, who put them on display in Piccadilly.

Wardrobe inventory

The shirt was sold by a leading figure in Germany's male fashion world, Rudolph Moshammer, who established the homeless charity, Light for the Homeless (Licht fur Obdachlose).

Mr Moshammer opened a boutique in Munich's most expensive street, the Maximilianstrasse, in 1967, and is well-known figure in Germany.

An inventory of Napoleon's wardrobe made in 1811 lists nine dozen such shirts.

Four dozen were lost in the retreat from Moscow in 1812 and, by the time of his exile in St Helena, Napoleon had 87 left.

Each shirt was intended to last six years.