It may come as no surprise that Princess Diana memorabilia — from the late royal’s iconic dresses to her car, and even her private letters — are in high demand with royal collectors. But this perishable piece may be the most unusual collector’s item yet. More than 40 years after Lady Diana Spencer and Prince Charles tied the knot, a slice of Princess Diana’s wedding cake is being auctioned off.
Since 2008, UK-based auctioneers Dominic Winters, have had their hands on a large slab of cake icing with marzipan base from one of the 23 official wedding cakes made for the Royal Wedding in 1981. They’re now looking to sell the “slice of history” in an auction later this month.
From the looks of the photos, the generous slice is still in good shape after being preserved in cling-film for all these years, although the auctioneers “advise against eating it.”
On top of the white icing, you can clearly make out a decorative coat of arms made out of a “sugary overlay”, coloured in gold, red, blue, and silver. The intricate cake design also sees a small silver horseshoe and leaf spray adjacent. While nothing is said how it may have tasted back in 1981, it’s suspected that the large slice came from the side of a cake, or from the top of a single-tier cake, from one of the 23 cakes made for the royal couple’s big day.
But how did Princess Diana’s wedding cake become available for auction 40 years after the event, I hear you ask? And what will it likely fetch at auction?
Princess Diana Archive/Hulton Royals Collection/Getty Images
According to the UK auction house, it had belonged a Moyra Smith, an employee to the Queen Mother at Clarence House, who had wrapped the cake in cling-film and kept it safe inside a cake tin along with a “hand-made manuscript paper label signed by M[oyra] Smith taped to lid.”
“This slice of 40-year-old cake icing was acquired from Dominic Winter Auctioneers on 27 August 2008 (lot 301) when it was sold on behalf of Moyra’s family,” state the auctioneers on the website. “It appears to be in exactly the same good condition as when originally sold, but we advise against eating it, and the royal letter and bottle of commemorative beer that accompanied the lot are not present.”
The royal cake is accompanied with printed programs for the St. Paul’s Cathedral ceremony, as well as a program for a Royal Wedding Breakfast at Buckingham Palace, and is expected to be snapped up for £200-£300 at the auction on August 11.
