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Royal Wedding Cakes: How British Royal Cakes Changed from 1840 to 2018

From Victoria and Albert’s 300-pound cake to Harry and Meghan’s lemon elderflower design, British royal wedding cakes reflect changing tastes, makers and meanings.
Opened Runtime5 min Written byDocumentaryTube Team
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British royal wedding cakes have ranged from a 300-pound Victorian fruit cake decorated with orange blossom and myrtle to the lemon elderflower cake planned for Harry and Meghan. The documented examples show no single royal recipe: ingredients, scale, makers and decoration changed with each couple and occasion.

How royal wedding cakes changed over time

These cakes are best understood as individual commissions, not as a fixed royal tradition. Some were monumental fruit cakes; others used designs that reflected a couple’s interests or the look they wanted for their reception. The surviving descriptions also vary in detail, so this is a selection of documented examples rather than a complete catalogue.

1840: Victoria and Albert’s cake

Queen Victoria and Prince Albert married on 10 February 1840. The Royal Household describes their cake as a three-tier creation weighing 300 pounds. A Royal Collection Trust record for one of the wedding cakes describes a circular cake about three metres in circumference, bearing figures of the couple in ancient Greek costume and decorated with orange blossom and myrtle. More than one cake was baked so portions could be distributed. The Royal Household says the wedding helped make wedding cakes more commonplace at receptions; that is its historical account, not a measure of how quickly the custom spread. (Royal Household; Royal Collection Trust)

Victoria’s diary entry, reproduced by the Royal Household, offers a glimpse of the day beyond the cake: “How can I ever be thankful enough to have such a Husband! … to be called by names of tenderness, I have never yet heard used to me before—was bliss beyond belief! Oh! This was the happiest day of my life!” (Royal Household)

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1863 and 1871: flowers and a figurine

When the future Edward VII, then Prince of Wales, married Princess Alexandra in 1863, their cake was elaborately iced and decorated with flowers. The Royal Household’s brief description of Princess Louise’s 1871 cake notes a female figurine at its summit. These examples show the range of decorative approaches in the Victorian period, though the available descriptions do not specify their ingredients or dimensions. (Royal Household)

1923: castles on a ten-foot cake

Prince Albert and Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, who later became George VI and Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, married in 1923. Their cake stood ten feet high. Its first tier featured Windsor Castle and St George’s Chapel, and its second Glamis Castle, linking the design to royal and family places. After the reception, the cake was displayed in Reading. (Royal Household)

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1947: the “10,000 Mile Cake”

Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip married on 20 November 1947. Their official cake was made by McVitie and Price, stood nine feet high and had four tiers. Its ingredients came from around the world, including Australian sugar, which gave it the nickname “10,000 Mile Cake.” The couple received eleven cakes in all; this was the official cake. (Royal Household; Royal Household)

A broad Royal Household cake-history feature labels this entry “1948,” but its separate detailed account dates the wedding to 20 November 1947. The wedding year is 1947; 1948 refers to the reported later use of a saved tier for the christening of the couple’s first child in December that year. (Royal Household; Royal Household)

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1973 and 1981: an equestrian motif and a naval kitchen

Princess Anne’s official cake in 1973 was made by Audrey’s catering team and built from hexagons. A female jockey leaping a fence stood on top, a direct reference to Anne’s equestrian career. (Royal Household)

The official cake for Charles and Diana’s 1981 wedding was made by the Royal Navy’s Cookery School at HMS Pembroke in Chatham. The Royal Household gives its height as five feet and its weight as 255 pounds. (Royal Household)

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2005: a cake remembered by Charles

During a 2004 visit to Llansteffan, Charles took note of a fruit cake made by Etta Richardson. She recreated it for his and Camilla’s reception at Windsor on 9 April 2005. The Royal Household reported that Richardson’s family continued to sell it as “Etta’s Royal Cake” at Camarthan market; that historical report does not establish whether it is still available. (Royal Household)

2011: Lambeth piping and hundreds of sugar flowers

Fiona Cairns made William and Catherine’s eight-tier traditional fruit cake, which stood three feet tall. The Royal Household describes its cream-and-white decoration as the Joseph Lambeth technique: English overpiping built from fine details, scrolls and garlands. Fifty chefs spent five weeks constructing 900 sugar-paste flowers. Seventeen additional flowers carried personal meaning, including sweet william and myrtle, and a piece of lace from the Duchess’s dress was copied onto the cake. (Royal Household)

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2018: lemon elderflower, buttercream and fresh flowers

For Harry and Meghan, the Royal Household announced a lemon elderflower cake by Claire Ptak, an American pastry chef based in Hackney. It was to be covered in buttercream and decorated with fresh flowers. That flavor and finish differed from the traditional fruit cake chosen for William and Catherine seven years earlier. (Royal Household)

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What the cakes reveal about royal wedding design

Wedding Base or flavor Scale and construction Maker and distinctive design
Victoria and Albert, 1840 Not stated in the cited descriptions Royal Household: three tiers and 300 pounds. Royal Collection Trust: one circular cake about three metres in circumference; multiple cakes were made. Not stated; figures of the couple in ancient Greek costume, orange blossom and myrtle.
Edward VII and Alexandra, 1863 Not stated Not stated Not stated; elaborately iced and decorated with flowers.
Princess Louise, 1871 Not stated Not stated Not stated; a female figurine topped the cake.
Prince Albert and Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, 1923 Not stated Ten feet high Maker not stated; tiers depicted Windsor Castle, St George’s Chapel and Glamis Castle.
Elizabeth and Philip, 1947 Ingredients from around the world, including Australian sugar; exact flavor not stated Nine feet high, four tiers; the couple received eleven cakes McVitie and Price; known as the “10,000 Mile Cake.”
Princess Anne, 1973 Not stated Hexagonal form; dimensions not stated Audrey’s catering team; topped with a female jockey jumping a fence.
Charles and Diana, 1981 Not stated Five feet high, 255 pounds Royal Navy Cookery School at HMS Pembroke.
Charles and Camilla, 2005 Fruit cake Not stated Etta Richardson recreated a cake Charles had noticed during a 2004 visit.
William and Catherine, 2011 Traditional fruit cake Eight tiers, three feet tall; 900 sugar-paste flowers made by 50 chefs over five weeks, plus 17 meaningful flowers Fiona Cairns; Joseph Lambeth overpiping and copied dress lace.
Harry and Meghan, 2018 Lemon elderflower Dimensions and tiers not stated Claire Ptak; buttercream covering and fresh flowers.

Decoration could refer to place, family or personal interest: the 1923 cake showed castles; Anne’s 1973 cake featured a jockey; and the 2011 cake included flowers with personal significance and copied dress lace. Flowers also connect the 1840 and 2011 examples, but their use was specific to those designs rather than evidence of one required royal floral code.

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