Slice of fruitcake from King Charles and Princess Diana’s wedding sells for £221 at auction

A slice of fruitcake served at the wedding of King Charles III and the late Princess of Wales’ wedding has been sold at auction for £221 ($248).

The 41-year-old piece of cake, which has been preserved in its original presentation box since 1981, is presumed to be from the bottom layer of the five-tier fruitcake. It was found in the home of Nigel Ricketts, who worked as a French polisher and furniture restorer in Windsor Castle from 1980 to 1985, following his death earlier this year.

The lid to the presentation box also includes the Prince of Wales’ insignia, along with the initials C and D in calligraphy writing and “Buckingham Palace 29th July 1981” written on the bottom of the box.

Auctioneers from Dore & Rees in Frome, Somerset were called to Ricketts’ home in Westbury, Wiltshire to value some items after his passing. The slice of fruitcake was found still wrapped in a doily and hardly deteriorated, despite its age.

“These items were laid out on a table for us to view by a friend of the late Mr Ricketts. The cake was in its original box which wasn’t sealed,” Guy Taylor, head of interior sales at Dore & Rees, told the Daily Mail. “You probably wouldn’t want to eat it now but the amount of alcohol probably preserved it and it still looks like a slice of wedding cake which has kept its shape and form.”

A handwritten thank you letter from the king – then Prince Charles – is also up for sale, valued at £150 (about $170). The letter is addressed to members of the royal staff, who apparently gave the former couple a table as their wedding gift.

“Diana and I are touched beyond words that you should have gone to so much trouble to find something so eminently useful, and I can assure you that we will treasure it in whichever house it eventually goes to rest,” he wrote in his scribbled handwriting, and signed off as “Charles”.

According to a spokesperson from Dore & Rees, the slice of fruitcake in its original presentation box was sold for £221 at auction on Wednesday, 19 October. The handwritten signed letter from Prince Charles also sold for £234 at auction on Wednesday.

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A total of 23 cakes were made for the “wedding of the century”, including the five-layer fruitcake that weighed 225lbs (approximately 102kg). In August 2021, one piece of their wedding cake was sold for £1,850 at auction. The 40-year old slice was given to a member of the Queen’s mother’s staff named Moyra Smith, who preserved it with the help of a cling film inside an old floral cake tin. It also featured a sugared design of a royal coat of arms on the icing.

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King Charles III and Princess Diana tied the knot on 29 July 1981 in a wedding ceremony that was watched by around 750 million people around the world. The pair were married at St Paul’s Cathedral in London, just five months after announcing their engagement. The televised nuptials remain the most watched royal wedding of all time.

However, Charles and Diana announced their separation in 1992 and finalised their divorce in 1996 after 15 years of marriage.

Their relationship and subsequent divorce continues to be one of the most talked about royal relationships, due in part to its recent dramatisation in the Netflix series The Crown. The fifth season of The Crown, which arrives on Wednesday 9 November, will follow an “all-out war” between Charles and Diana, leading up to the late princess’ death in 1997.