London:
A slice of cake from the 1981 wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer sold for 1,850 euros ($2,558) at auction in Britain on Wednesday — with a warning not to consume it.
The 40-year-old slab of marzipan and thick white icing decorated with the royal coat of arms fetched more than 3 instances its asking price tag of 300 euros to 500 euros.
“We were amazed at the numbers of people wanting to bid on this large and unique piece of royal cake icing,” stated auctioneer Chris Albury, a royal memorabilia specialist at Dominic Winter Auctioneers in Cirencester, western England.
“There were lots of enquiries from bidders, mostly in the UK, the USA and several countries in the Middle East,” he added in an e-mail.
The prosperous bidder comes from Leeds in the north of England, Albury stated.
The cake was initially offered to Moyra Smith, who worked for Queen Elizabeth II’s mother at her Clarence House residence in central London.
Following Smith’s death, her family sold it at the similar auction property in 2008 for 1,000 euros to a private collector, who has now sold it at a profit.
“It appears to be in exactly the same good condition as when originally sold, but we advise against eating it,” the auctioneers stated.
‘Handle with care’
The cake remains as Smith kept it, wrapped in cling film in a cake tin that she labelled “Handle with care” and dated 29 July 1981, the day of the wedding.
The auctioneers stated the slice came from a multi-tier cake served to employees at Clarence House, exactly where Smith worked in the kitchen.
Apart from the major wedding cake, there have been about 22 other cakes supplied by makers for the royal occasion, the auctioneers stated.
Wednesday’s lot integrated order of service and ceremonial programmes for the wedding, a royal wedding breakfast menu and a table seating programme from Buckingham Palace.
Pieces of Charles and Diana’s wedding cake nevertheless frequently go on sale and interest remains robust regardless of the break-up of their marriage and divorce in 1996.
A piece of wedding cake in an original commemorative box sold for $2,240 in the United States in December, according to Julien’s Auctions.
The sale is the most up-to-date instance of the continued fascination with Diana, who died aged 36 in a higher-speed automobile crash in Paris in 1997.
In June, her old Ford Escort — an engagement present from Charles — was purchased by a South American museum for more than 50,000 euros.
In 2019, a midnight blue velvet gown she wore when she danced with John Travolta at the White House in 1985 was place up for sale for in between 250,000 euros and 350,000 euros.
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