(ORDO NEWS) — A small piece of the 1981 cake still survives today, which consisted of five layers and was one of 23 official wedding cakes made for one of the biggest royal weddings.
A piece of cake served at the wedding of King Charles III and Princess Diana in 1981 recently sold at auction for £170.
The 41-year-old piece of cake is believed to come from the bottom layer of a five-tiered fruit dessert, one of the 23 that were served at the famous wedding back in the 20th century.
Old cake recipe
Most people immediately became interested in the person who kept the treasured part of the royal wedding all these years.
It was Nigel Ricketts, one of the guests, who also worked as a French polisher and furniture restorer at Windsor Castle from 1980 to 1985. He passed away at the beginning of 2022.
Stored in the original gift box, the cake box is adorned with the Prince of Wales emblem, the initials C and D (from the names Carl and Diana) in calligraphy and the words “Buckingham Palace 29 July 1981” on the bottom of the box.
At Dore and Rees Auctions in the UK, the dessert was put up for a preliminary estimate of £300. However, it ended up selling for £170, well below the expected price but still surprisingly high for a non-edible product.
In 2014, a piece of the same cake was sold for £990.
Royal gift
“The cake was in the original unsealed box. Probably no one would want to eat it now.
The amount of alcohol [with which the dessert was flavored at the time] probably kept it,” said Guy Taylor, head of interior sales at Dore and Rees.
King Charles III and Princess Diana, Princess of Wales married on 29 July 1981 in a grand wedding ceremony watched by some 750 million people around the world.
The event, held at St Paul’s Cathedral in London, continues to be the most popular royal wedding to date.
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