A Rare Slice Of Queen Elizabeth's Wedding Cake Sells For A Staggering 2.3 Lakhs At Auction

In what might be the world's most expensive stale fruit cake, a slice of the late Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip's 1947 wedding cake has just fetched £2,200 at auction. Yes, you read that right – a buyer in China coughed up almost 2.3 lakhs INR to buy this historic dessert. Surprisingly, the cake slice, which had been living its best life under a bed in a suitcase for nearly eight decades remained perfectly preserved in its original presentation box since the wedding and under the care of Marion Polson, housekeeper at The Palace of Holyroodhouse, as a "thank you" for giving the royal couple a dessert service.The slice came with a heartfelt thank-you note from then-Princess Elizabeth herself. The Queen wrote, “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,”

But even in its prime, this wasn't just any old wedding cake – it was dubbed the "10,000-mile cake,". The nickname came from its ingredients being sourced from across the British Empire, making it possibly the most well-traveled cake in history before it even made it to the oven. McVitie and Price, better known for making England’s favourite digestive biscuits were upgraded from tea dunkers to royal bakers for this momentous occasion. The resulting masterpiece was a four-tiered cake standing 9 feet tall. It was adorned with both families' coats of arms and elaborately decorated scenes from their lives. During the royal wedding, the cake fed 2,000 guests at the wedding, with hundreds of slices being sent to charities. One tier was even saved for Prince Charles' christening. This cake has been fetching hefty price tags already with another piece sold for $2,300 in 2013, suggesting there might be a surprisingly robust market for vintage royal baked goods. In the world of royal wedding cake auctions, a slice from Charles and Diana's wedding cake sold for $2,565 in 2021. The moral of the story? Maybe it's time to check under your bed. That forgotten Christmas pudding from 2020 might just be your ticket to retirement but maybe only if it had some royal connections to begin with.