A slice of royal history has been bought at auction twice by the same man, and he’s determined to have his cake and eat it, too.
When Gerry Layton of Alwoodley, Yorkshire, saw a piece of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer’s wedding cake for sale at a 2021 auction, he spent a mouth-watering £2,170 to purchase the slice.
Fast forward to May 2022, and unbelievably, the 62-year-old has purchased the same piece of cake yet again for nearly the same price.
Layton decided to put his piece of royal wedding cake up for auction to benefit children’s charity Martin House Hospice … but there was one problem.
“After some free champagne, I suddenly got the urge and thought ‘I haven’t even had a bite of it yet’,” he told the Yorkshire Post.
Layton’s last-minute bidding was successful and he won the piece back for £2,100, making a total spend of £4,270 on the same piece of royal wedding cake.
“I think I’m the only person in the world ever to have bought the same item at auction twice within a year, and both times for around the same price,” he said. “But they are such a worthy charity and they are in my will anyway.”
Layton’s slice of Charles and Diana’s wedding cake features white icing and the royal arms along with some decorative latticework and roses. It was cut from one of 23 wedding cakes that were baked for the July 29, 1981 royal wedding, which took place at St Paul’s Cathedral.
The cake, which was owned by a member of the Queen Mother’s household and then sold in 2008 to a collector, is remarkably well-preserved for a 41-year-old sweet. Maybe too preserved.
When asked if he was planning to actually eat it, Layton — who was a member of the 1960s pop group The Outer Limits — said he was deadly serious.
“You bet your bottom dollar I am,” he told the publication. “I don’t care if it kills me. It’s 41-years-old but I definitely am going to have a bite.”
“It should be all right, it’s been carefully preserved in plastic,” he added. “I’m not taking anything off the top as that would spoil it, but underneath there’s a marzipan base that holds it all together and probably some fruitcake.”
In 2013, a slice of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s wedding cake sold for £2,588.
