Yorkshire man spends £4,000 on Princess Diana’s wedding cake as he buys it twice

Self-proclaimed royalist Gerry Layton, 62, bought the large piece of cake, which is covered in icing and features a royal coat-of-arms, at auction in August last year, forking out £2,170 in total.

It is from one of the 23 official wedding cakes that were made for the wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer at St Paul’s Cathedral on Wednesday, July 29 in 1981.

The slice was given to Moya Smith, a member of the Queen Mother’s household at Clarence House, and after the wedding she preserved the topping with cling film before her family sold the cake to a collector in 2008.

Mr Layton, from Alwoodley, recently announced he was putting the slice of 41-year-old cake up for sale at a charity ball auction, to raise money for Martin House Hospice – a charity which provides care to terminally ill and severely disabled children.

But when it went under the hammer at Rudding Park last week, he “got the urge to have it back” and submitted the winning bid of £2,100.

“After some free champagne, I suddenly got the urge and thought ‘I haven’t even had a bite of it yet’,” he said.

“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.

“But they are such a worthy charity and they are in my will anyway.”

Mr Layton said he may look to sell the cake at another charity auction in the future, but he is determined to have a bite first.

“You bet your bottom dollar I am,” he said. “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.

“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.”

Mr Layton is former member of the 1960s band The Outer Limits who now charters a boat providing luxury tours of the River Thames in London.