40-year old cake slice from Princess Diana’s wedding to fetch £500

Can a slice of a decades-old cake fetch as much as 500 Pounds? While one can indifferently throw off a crumpled slice of an ordinary cake, but even a tiny slice of a cake cut 40-years ago at British Prince Charles and Princess Diana’s wedding is worth a treasure. A prescient servant at the Royal House who manned the wedding ceremony in 1981 along with hundreds of her likes decided against having the cake and kept it for posterity. Moyra Smith, who was an employee of Queen Mother at Clarence House was given a slice from a cake which is understood to have been cut for the Royal servants. The same slice of cake is now going to be sold in an auction in Britain on August 11, BBC reported.

The auction of the 40-year old cake slice has gotten attention from around the world. According to a report by The Independent, the slice measures eight inches by seven inches and displays the Royal coat of arms decoration in red, gold and blue color. Smith, who must have restrained herself and her family from having the cake unlike her peers, sold the slice to a collector in the year 2008. The same slice of cake is now being put on auction by Gloucestershire-based Dominic Winter.

Chris Albury, who is a specialist valuer at Dominic Winter was quoted saying by BBC that the slice could fetch anything between £300 and £500. Talking about the slice, Albury jokingly said that he wouldn’t recommend the winner of the auction to have the cake though the cake is destined to last for ages. Mrs Smith, who was prescient enough to recognise the value of the cake slice, had taken measures to ensure that the cake remained fresh and kept it in a floral cake tin. Smith had also appended a hand-made label below the cake which mentions, “Handle with Care – Prince Charles & Princess Diane’s [sic] Wedding Cake.”

Prince Charles married Princess Diana in July 1981. The couple who had taken their Royal celebrity status to the greatest of heights across the world separated in the year 1992 and finally divorced in 1996. Soon after in the year 1997, Princess Diana died in a car accident survived by Prince Charles and her two sons-Prince William and Prince Harry.