A keen royalist has paid £1,850 at auction for a piece of cake icing and marzipan from a slice of Prince Charles and Princess Diana’s wedding cake.
The unusual keepsake, which features an elaborate, sugared design of the royal coat of arms in gold, red, blue and silver, was sold to Gerry Layton on Wednesday, more than 40 years after the royals tied the knot.
It is believed the cake was given to Moya Smith, a member of the Queen Mother’s staff, cut from a cake given to royal staff thanking them for their efforts after the wedding.
Smith had preserved it with cling film and kept it in a baking tin following the big occasion, and dated it 29 July 1981.
The cake tin has a note taped to the lid, reading: “Handle with care. Prince Charles and Princess Diane’s wedding cake, M.C Smith 29/7/81”.
Smith’s family kept hold of the unusual keepsake until 2008, when it was sold to a collector for £1,000.
The collector had kept it stashed away until now.
A flurry of bids were placed from across the world on Wednesday, before the cake piece was sold to Layton for a substantial amount higher than its estimated price; £300-£500.
Layton said he would add the cake to his estate, which would be going to charity after his death.
“I also thought that I could put it up as a raffle prize with some of the money going to Centrepoint, which Princess Di was patron of,” he said.
Chris Albury, a royal memorabilia specialist at Dominic Winter Auctioneers in Cirencester, told the Guardian he was amazed at the number of bidders who were interested.
A majority of the inquiries came from the UK, US and the Middle East, he said.
Prince Charles married Princess Diana 40 years ago in what appeared to be a fairytale ceremony.
The couple tied the knot at St Paul's Cathedral on July 29, 1981, in front of 3,500 invited guests, including the royal family, with 750million people watching at home.
More than 20 wedding cakes were said to have been supplied for the occasion, made by various companies.
Excitement reached fever pitch when a 20-year-old Diana emerged from her carriage at the cathedral in her ivory silk taffeta gown and there were cheers all around when the couple said 'I do'.
But decades later, we now know that the fairytale ceremony didn't continue into a fairytale marriage.
Eleven years after the wedding, after welcoming sons Princes William and Harry, the couple announced their split following the breakdown of their relationship. And they divorced in 1996, just a year before Diana's tragic death in 1997.
