Frosting On Princess Diana’s 40-Year-Old Wedding Cake Sells For $2,500
Image via Joe Haupt / Flickr (CC BY-SA 2.0)
Literally the icing on the cake of today’s news, a British man has paid £1,850 (US$2,565) for the frosting of a slice of cake served at Prince Charles and Princess Diana’s wedding in 1981.
While previously widely reported that the item was a cake slice, it turned out that the buyer would be bidding for the icing and marzipan on the edible display. Still, purchaser Gerry Layton—a self-professed royalist—forked out an amount significantly higher than the estimated selling price of £300 to £500 (US$416 to US$693), The Guardian reveals.
One could argue that the collector was simply paying for art, as the frosting features an intricate sugared design of the royal coat of arms in the colors gold, red, blue, and silver.
The well-preserved icing belonged to Moyra Smith, a member of the Queen Mother’s household at Clarence House. It is wrapped in cling film and stashed in a floral cake tin with a label—signed and dated July 27, 1981—“Handle with Care - Prince Charles & Princess Diane’s [sic] Wedding Cake.”
“It appears to be in exactly the same good condition as when originally sold, but we advise against eating it,” Dominic Winter Auctioneers wrote in the listing’s description. Due to the piece’s size and artwork, it is inferred that it was from either “the side of a cake, or from the top of a single-tier cake.”
Layton told the Guardian that the sugared decoration would be added to his estate, “which will be going to charity after my death.” He has also considered giving it up as a raffle prize with proceeds going to Centrepoint, a charity for homeless youths that the Princess of Wales was a patron of.
[via Insider, images via various sources]
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