A SLICE of royal wedding cake has fetched £500 after going up for auction.

The 68-year-old piece of cake from the marriage ceremony of the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh met its top asking price, bracketed at £300-£500, at Gorringes in Lewes yesterday.

A woman from Scotland initially put in a bid of £480 but a man from Los Angeles in the US clinched the vintage morsel for £500.

He won the desirable desert with an absentee bid; he could not be in Lewes because of the time difference.

Philip Taylor of Gorringes said: "Bearing in the mind condition of it, which wasn’t great, we were very pleased with the price.

"There are lots of strong royal memorabilia collectors in the States.

"In 33 years I have never sold anything like that."

The fruit slice, about the size of a cigarette packet and laced with alcohol, was one of 2,000 dished out to guests at a lavish wedding reception at Buckingham Palace on November 20, 1947.

Despite this, wrapped in its original parchment, it is still edible.

Mr Taylor added: "The cake is in a remarkable state considering it is 68 years old. It has been very well preserved due to all the rum and brandy in it.

"You could eat it but I wouldn’t recommend it."

It comes with a white cardboard presentation box, a miniature doily and an inscribed card sending "best wishes" from the happy couple.

The inscription reads: "EP Buckingham Palace 20th November 1947", in silver writing.

The huge fruit cake became known as “the 10,000 mile wedding cake”, as its ingredients were donated by the Australian Girl Guides and the rum and brandy from South Africa.

The prize pudding was sold by a private collector whose father-in-law was manager of the prestigious Mayfair restaurant Scott’s.

Mr Taylor said: "Collectors have paid an awful lot of money for Royal artefacts in the past and a slice of cake from Queen Elizabeth’s wedding is right up there."

The Royal couple’s wedding cake towered nine feet tall and consisted of four tiers.

The auction took place a week before the Queen celebrates becoming the longest reigning monarch in British history, having sat on the throne for 23,227 days.

In doing so, she will pass the record held by her great-great grandmother, Queen Victoria.