‘Very rare’ 77-year-old piece of cake from Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip’s wedding sells for $2,800
By Issy Ronald, CNN
(CNN) — A “very rare” 77-year-old slice of the cake served at Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip’s wedding sold for £2,200 ($2,800) this week, according to auction house Reeman Dansie.
The cake, which no longer looks edible, survived for almost eight decades since the wedding day on November 20, 1947.
It is still neatly packaged in a small box with the silver insignia of a then-Princess Elizabeth stamped on it and an elaborate doily inside.
This box kept the cake safe as it was sent from Buckingham Palace to Marion Polson, the housekeeper at Holyrood House in Edinburgh, Scotland, as a gift from the royal couple.
Alongside the cake, Polson received a letter from Elizabeth thanking her for “such a delightful wedding present.”
“We are both enchanted with the dessert service; the different flowers and the beautiful colouring will, I know, be greatly admired by all who see it,” read the typewritten letter, which is signed by Elizabeth.
“This is a present which we shall use constantly, and whenever we shall think of the kindness and good wishes for our happiness which it represents.”
Elizabeth and Philip’s wedding cake was an extravagant, nine-foot tall (2.7 meters) creation, which weighed 500 pounds.
It was decorated with both families’ coats of arms and sugar-iced figures of the couple’s favorite activities. It yielded 2,000 slices for guests, hundreds more that were sent to charities and other organizations, and one tier that was kept for a then Prince Charles’ christening.
A few of these slices have also survived the decades and been sold at auction, like one in 2013 that fetched £1,750 ($2,300), according to auction house Christie’s.
Meanwhile, cake served at Charles and Princess Diana’s wedding and then kept in plastic wrap in an old cake tin similarly sold for £1,850 (then $2,565) at an auction in 2021.
That 40-year-old cake slice featured a coat-of-arms colored in gold, red, blue and silver, a silver horseshoe and leaf spray, as well as some white decorative icing.
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