41-Year-Old Cake From King Charles, Princess Diana's Wedding On Sale For Around $340

A slice of cake from King Charles III and the late Princess Diana's wedding is being auctioned for an estimated £300 ($340), 41 years after their 1981 nuptials.

Nigel Ricketts, who worked as a French polisher and furniture restorer in Windsor Castle from 1980 to 1985, kept the piece of the fruit cake in its original presentation box, the Daily Mail reported.

A handwritten thank-you letter from the new monarch and the former Princess of Wales addressed to the members of the royal household staff is also going up for auction alongside the cake slice. The letter is valued at £150 ($170).

The insignia of the former Prince of Wales can be found on the lid of the container, along with the initials C and D in calligraphy writing and the date and place of the wedding ceremony.

The items were found in Ricketts' home in Westbury, England, after his death earlier this year.

An expert from the auction house Dore and Rees Auctioneers of Frome, Somerset, was called to the estate to value some items and found the cake slice still wrapped in its doily and grease-proof paper inside the box. It has "hardly deteriorated" likely due to its large alcohol content, the outlet noted.

"These items were laid out on a table for us to view by a friend of the late Mr. Ricketts. The cake was in its original box which wasn't sealed," Guy Taylor, head of interior sales at Dore and Ree, told the Daily Mail of the "three or four royal-related items" that were found in Ricketts' estate. "You probably wouldn't want to eat it now but the amount of alcohol probably preserved it, and it still looks like a slice of wedding cake which has kept its shape and form."

In the note of gratitude written out to Ricketts and other staff at the royal residence at the time, Charles and Diana gave their "warmest and most appreciative thanks" for their joint wedding present of a writing table.

"Diana and I are touched beyond words that you should have gone to so much trouble to find something so eminently useful," the monarch wrote, according to the outlet. "And I can assure you that we will treasure it in whichever house it finally comes to rest!"

There was a total of 23 official cakes made for the wedding, including a 5-foot-tall, layered fruitcake. The rectangular piece given to Ricketts apparently came from the bottom layer of the dessert.

In 2014, another slice of the cake was sold for £990 ($1,375) in an auction held in Los Angeles, California.

The slice of fruit cake and the thank-you note, along with several invitations sent to Ricketts for Christmas dances hosted by the late Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip at Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle during the early 1980s, will be up for sale Wednesday during Dore and Rees' auction.

King Charles and Princess Diana's wedding was hailed as the "wedding of the century," and an estimated 750 million people from around the globe watched the ceremony take place at St. Paul's Cathedral in London.

The two were married for 15 years before they separated in 1992. Their divorce was finalized in 1996.

King Charles and Princess Diana share two children, 40-year-old Prince William and 38-year-old Prince Harry.