Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip shared the longest marriage in royal history which all began with their extravagant wedding day on November 20th, 1947. As their celebration was taking place during post-war times, Elizabeth’s father, King George VI, reportedly warned to keep the wedding ‘simple’ but, clearly, no expense was spared.
While there are so many spectacular details to swoon over such as her wedding dress by Norman Hartnell which would cost approximately €1.4m today, their wedding cake was equally as jaw-dropping. While the price of the astounding confection is not publicly known, a slice of the perfectly preserved fruitcake sold in auction for an eye-watering sum.
The Details of Queen Elizabeth II’s Wedding Cake
The couple served a whopping 11 cakes on their wedding day but one stood leagues above the rest. Their main wedding cake was a 9-foot-tall masterpiece created by McVitie & Price.
Weighing 900 pounds and boasting four wonderfully intricate tiers, their majestic confection earned the title of ‘The 10,000 Mile Cake’ for its long list of ingredients which came from around the world.
While the Queen loved chocolate they opted for a traditional fruitcake.
With a reported guest list of 2,000, which included five kings, five queens and eight princess and princesses, we’ve no doubt that every single one of them was left in awe by the towering cake.
It was decorated with the arms of both of their families, their monograms, naval badges, royal residences and there were also sugar figurines of their favourite activities and sports. The bottom tier included silver lucky charms hidden in the icing: a bell, a boot, a button, a coin, a horseshoe, and a thimble.
Fun fact: They cut their cake with the Duke’s Mountbatten sword which was a gift from the King.
Would you eat a nearly a 80-year-old piece of cake? One royal fan intends to do just that after snapping up a piece of the iconic wedding cake in auction for thousands of pounds.
The Auction
The “very rare” slice was sold by Reeman Dansie Auction House in Colchester, Essex, in November 2024 for £2.7k (including fees).
Yacht owner and royal fan Gerry Layton won the historic piece of cake who coincidentally owns a piece of Princess Diana’s wedding cake too!
The slice was originally given to Chief Petty Officer F. Lownes who served in the Royal Navy. He left it to his son who kept it in a drawer and following his death it went to his wife, Lownes’ daughter-in-law, before it was put up for auction.
Gerry plans to eat it during a replica state banquet on the Royal Yacht Britannia for his 65th birthday.
He told The Telegraph he plans to have a third of it cut off and “flambeed in rum” to kill the bacteria off.
“But if anything happens to me, then at least I will be going out in style on Britannia.”
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