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Last Known Slice of Queen Elizabeth’s 1947 Wedding Cake Sells for £2,700

Gerry Layton plans to flambé a portion of the alcohol-laced relic during a replica state banquet aboard the Royal Yacht Britannia.

Entrepreneur and British Royal Family superfan Gerry Layton says he has a cunning scheme to get rid of any bacteria that might have built up on the near-80-year-old dessert.
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Overview

  • The four-inch fruit cake slice was among 2,000 pieces cut from the four-tier, nine-foot confection designed by McVitie & Price for the November 1947 royal wedding.
  • Kept in its original box with a silver-embossed “EP” cypher and “On His Majesty’s Service” wrapping, the slice remained uneaten and passed down through Chief Petty Officer F. Lownes’s family.
  • Reeman Dansie Auctioneers in Colchester achieved a hammer price of £2,000, bringing the total sale to £2,700 after fees.
  • Layton, a long-time royal memorabilia collector, will have about one-third of the slice flambéed in rum and consumed to mark his 65th birthday.
  • The 500-lb wedding cake earned the nickname “the 10,000-mile cake” because its ingredients were flown in from across the Commonwealth during post-war rationing.