Princess Diana and Prince Charles’ Wedding Cake Slice Set to Auction at Wild Price

A 40-year-old piece of cake is heading to the auction block and could fetch over $700 because it’s not just any slice of cake. It is a slice from Prince Charles and Princess Diana‘s wedding on July 29, 1981. The iced slice is a chunk of one of the 23 official wedding cakes made for that day. The slice has a marzipan base with a sugar onlay of the royal coat-of-arms.

The cake was given to Moyra Smith, who worked at the Queen Mother’s household at Clarence House, reports the Associated Press. Smith packaged the piece in a floral cake tin. She then added a label, writing, “Handle with Care – Prince Charles & Princess Diane’s (sic) Wedding Cake,” dated 29/7/81. Smith’s family sold the cake to a collector in 2008, but it will be auctioned off on Aug. 11

“It appears to be in exactly the same good condition as when originally sold,” Chris Albury, auctioneer and senior valuer at Dominic Winter Auctioneers, told the Associated Press. “But we advise against eating it.” The piece of cake will also be sold with an order of service, ceremonial details and the royal wedding breakfast program. It is expected to sell between £300 ($418) and £500 ($697).

Princess Diana and Prince Charles’ wedding played out like a fairytale for the millions of people watching worldwide, but the couple split in December 1992. They finalized their divorce in August 1996, a year before Princess Diana died in a car crash in Paris. Charles, 72, later married Camilla Parker Bowles, the Duchess of Cornwall, in 2005.

Charles and Diana had two sons, Prince William, 39, and Prince Harry, 36. The princes are reportedly not on the best of terms since Harry moved to the U.S. with his wife, Meghan Markle, and stepped down from royal duties. Harry recently announced plans to publish his first memoir, which reportedly surprised the Royal Family. The book is billed as a “definitive account of the experiences, adventures, losses, and life lessons that have helped shape him” and will be published by Penguin Random House in late 2022.

“I’m writing this not as the prince I was born, but as the man, I have become,” Harry said in a statement earlier this month. “I’ve worn many hats over the years, both literally and figuratively, and my hope is that in telling my story — the highs and lows, the mistakes, the lessons learned — I can help show that no matter where we come from, we have more in common than we think.” He later added that he is “deeply grateful for the opportunity to share what I’ve learned over the course of my life so far and excited for people to read a firsthand account of my life that’s accurate and wholly truthful.” The profits from the book will be donated to charity.