A 77-Year-Old Slice of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip's Wedding Cake Just Sold for $3,000 at Auction¹

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Although the late Queen Elizabeth II and the late Prince Philip had 11 royal wedding cakes at their post-ceremony breakfast on November 20, 1947, the main confection—a nine-foot-tall, 500-pound, four-tiered fruitcake with intricate sugar work—definitely stole the show.

The elaborate dessert produced 2,000 slices of cake, which were distributed to their 146 guests and later to charities, hospitals, schools, and other organizations. Nearly 77 years after the royal affair, one of those slices ended up at an auction house in Colchester, England, Reeman Dansie, and sold for nearly $3,000.



After her wedding, the former monarch² gifted a piece of her confection to Marion Polson, the housekeeper³ at The Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh, Scotland—a role that she filled from 1939 to 1969—as a token of gratitude⁴ for buying Philip and her a “delightful⁵” dessert service. The publication noted⁶ that Polson stored the cake (and some of her other belongings) in a suitcase underneath⁷ her bed.

After Polson’s death in the 1980s, her family became the owners of the famed slice. Earlier in 2024, the late housekeeper’s relatives decided⁸ to auction off the piece, so they contacted auctioneers at Reeman Dansie. Although the slice of royal cake was expected to go for about $650, it sold for nearly $3,000. BBC reported that a bidder⁹ from China, who more than quadrupled the estimated price, purchased the piece over the phone. “It's a real little find, a little time capsule¹⁰ of glorious cake," said James Grinter, managing director and royal expert of Reeman Dansie.