Slice of cake from Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip’s wedding 77 years ago is being sold at auction

A piece of wedding cake from the wedding of the future Queen Elizabeth And Prince Philip – more than 77 years ago – was sold at auction for more than four times the expected value.

After the piece of fruitcake was found under a bed in a suitcase, it was estimated to fetch more than $2,800, while it was estimated to fetch around $650. BBC. The original cake was served to 2,000 guests at the wedding of the then Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip on November 20, 1947, a gift from Marion Polson, the housekeeper of the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh, Scotland from 1931 to 1969.

A bidder from China won the ‘very, very rare’ piece of cake by purchasing it over the phone.

“It’s a real little find, a little time capsule of glorious cake,” says James Grinter of Reeman Dansie auction house.

Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip’s four-tiered wedding cake.

Getty Images

After buying the couple a “delicious” dessert set, Polson received a piece of the cake as a thank you. She kept it until her death in the 1980s, when it ended up under a bed with some of her other belongings. When the cake was found, it was still in its original presentation box and came with a letter from Queen Elizabeth herself, dated November 1947, the same month as her wedding day.

“My husband and I are deeply touched to know that you have given us such a wonderful wedding gift,” the future queen wrote. (She would ascend to the throne on February 6, 1952, less than five years later.)

Elizabeth and Philip on their wedding day, November 20, 1947.
Getty Images/Hulton Archive

“We are both enchanted by the dessert set,” the former Princess Elizabeth continued. “The different flowers and the beautiful colors, I know, will be greatly admired by everyone who sees them.”

The couple’s cake was ten feet tall, four tiers high and weighed a whopping 500 pounds.

Polson’s family contacted Reeman Dansie earlier this year and Grinter said Polson’s slice of cake was the first piece of cake ever sold ‘whole’.

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Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, wave to a crowd from the balcony of Buckingham Palace, London, shortly after their wedding at Westminster Abbey on November 20, 1947.
Keystone/Getty

“This one actually has the original content, which is very, very rare,” he said. “Keep in mind that it was produced at a time of rationing… They had the most beautiful cake made for them. I’ve seen pictures of it; it would fill half a room, it was absolutely huge.”

Elizabeth and Philip’s cake consisted of four layers and was laced with alcohol, the BBC reported.

However, Grinter admitted that the cake was no longer in the best condition, saying, “I don’t think I’d really want to eat it, I have to admit.”