Ahead of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s upcoming nuptials, Julien’s Auctions will offer an assortment of cakes from five major royal weddings.
The slices, all displayed in their original boxes, will cross the block in Las Vegas on June 23.
The star of the sale will be a slice from Prince Charles and Lady Diana’s 1981 “wedding of the century”. The event is still one of the most watched TV broadcasts of all time, attracting an estimated global audience of 1bn. That’s double the audience for the Apollo 11 Moon landing (although in fairness TVs were more widely distributed by the 80s).
Other slices of Charles and Diana’s cake have auctioned for as much as $6,000.
It may seem bizarre, but wedding cakes are among the most sought after pieces of royal memorabilia. Slices are given out in boxes to attendees, as well as being sent to those who were unable to come or simply weren’t invited. If properly stored, the cake should be good for around a year. All of the cake offered in this auction is well past its sell by date, although from a financial perspective we wouldn’t recommend eating it anyway.
In recent years the British royal family has undergone something of a renaissance, with princes William and Harry and their glamorous partners breathing fresh air into an institution that is in constant threat of becoming an anachronism.
This was reflected in the viewing figures of 2bn for Prince William and Kate Middleton’s 2011 wedding, double those achieved by Charles and Diana. A slice of wedding cake from the 2011 event sold for a record $7,500 against a $2,000 estimate in 2014.
Another from Will and Kate’s wedding will feature in the present sale, with a $600-800 valuation. Could it pull off a similar explosion in value? It’s entirely possible given our proximity to the next royal knees up.
