A slice of wedding cake from last year's marriage of Prince William and Kate Middleton is coming to an online auction next month.
It is thought to be the first slice of cake from the wedding to come up for sale and is expected to be hotly contested by royal memorabilia collectors.
The fruit cake, which is wrapped in its original greaseproof paper, comes in a 5.5 inch-long presentation tin and accompanying "best wishes" card from William's father, the Prince of Wales, and the Duchess of Cornwall.
It offers bidders a superb opportunity to own a collectible from arguably the most secretly guarded wedding reception of all time.
 A slice of the world’s most closely guarded cake |
The starting bid for the slice, which is being auctioned by PFC Auctions, is just £100.
Adrian Roose of PFC Auctions commented: "As far as we are aware it's the first piece of Royal Wedding cake to appear at auction, so it's an exciting lot and one that has already generated a lot of interest, especially with our US clients."
Famed cake designer Fiona Cairns produced the cake precisely to Kate's wishes, and was sworn against divulging details ahead of the big day.
"The bit that sticks in the mind [from Kate's brief] is 'the language of flowers' because I adore flowers and that was inspiring," Cairns told the UK's Telegraph newspaper.
It is not the first time a slice of cake from a royal wedding has appeared for sale.
In 2008, a piece of marzipan cake from Prince Charles and Lady Diana's nuptials in 1981 made £1,000 ($1,830).
Accompanying the lot is an original order of service from the ceremony at Westminster Abbey. Its 16 pages include vows, hymns, prayers and a blessing. Together, the two artefacts make a superb, and potentially valuable, document of the day.
The wedding was watched by more 2.24bn people around the globe.
Bidding on the cake and several other iconic pieces of memorabilia opens on May 3 and runs until the 24th.
