A slice of cake from Prince William and Kate's royal wedding is going under the hammer. The piece of fruit cake will be sold at the Printed Books and Manuscripts auction at Chiswick Auctions on 27 September, and auctioneers are hoping it will fetch thousands. A similar slice of the decadent wedding cake sold at Julien's Auctions in California for nearly £6,000 in 2014.
The slice of cake is displayed within a specially commissioned cream and gilt commemorative tin designed by Peter Windett and Sally Mangum. It comes with a printed card that reads, 'With best wishes from TRH The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall in celebration of the wedding of TRH The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge,' accompanied by the Royal Crest printed in gilt.
The cake slice is going up for auction next month
The beautiful memento was originally given to guests as a souvenir and formed part of the stunning eight-tier wedding cake designed by cake-maker Fiona Cairns. The masterpiece took five weeks to complete and was the centrepiece at William and Kate's wedding reception, which took place in April 2011 in the picture gallery at Buckingham Palace.
Speaking exclusively to HELLO! Online, Fiona has previously shared her pride at making the royal cake. "The whole cake was — not just the cake but the wedding — was Kate's idea. It was all her idea. She's a very creative person and that's why it was so special," said Fiona. "A lot of people thought the royal wedding was a very grand affair but it was also very personal.
The cake took five weeks to create
"Kate is just as lovely as everyone thinks. She's exactly as you'd imagine, a really lovely person. She gave me a list of 17 different flowers and leaves that she wanted on the cake, and told me afterwards that she didn't mean all 17. I was thinking, 'How am I going to make heather and lavender and sweet Williams?' She wasn't expecting it at all. Each flower had a meaning to her and every part of the cake was very personal. We were given a piece of lace from her dress, but we didn't know it at the time, so we copied that onto the cake."
Fiona Cairns with her stunning creation
Fiona added: "I did hear from Kate personally after the wedding, when the cake and her dress later went on display at Buckingham Palace. We met then, but on the actual day of the wedding I had a phone call from the Queen's pastry chef saying that the cake was beyond William and Kate's expectations. So it was then, and only then, that we drank the champagne and breathed a sigh of relief. No matter what anyone else said or thought mattered."