Yacht captain plans to eat Queen Elizabeth II's 80-year-old wedding cake
Gerry Layton plans to tuck into a very special slice of cake for a birthday, despite warnings from doctors
A yacht captain and royal super fan is planning an unusual birthday cake for a milestone birthday.
Gerry Lawton collects royal memorabilia, and recently purchased a highly unusual specimen.
You've probably heard of commemorative royal plates from weddings or jubilees, but it's one thing to have the plate, quite another to have the cake that you'd eat off it.
But that's exactly what Gerry, from Leeds, has managed to get hold off after he paid a whopping £2,700 for a slice of Queen Elizabeth II's wedding cake at a specialist collectors' auction at Reeman Dansie in Colchester last November, YorkshireLive reports.
"I have an interest in all royal memorabilia and I am a super fan which you can tell from my house as I have a royal crest along with a flag waving outside," he said.
Gerry shared that he had originally tried to buy a different slice, but had lost out due to studying for his pilot's licence at the time which meant he forgot to bid.
"When the first cake came up last November, it was the first time I had seen and they had seen an intact piece of cake from the Royal wedding which also came with a letter from the Queen," he said.
"It was right up my street and I made a note to bid it online. Unfortunately, at the time, I was concentrating on a pilots license in Florida and forgot all about it. I was utterly gutted when I heard on Fox News that it had been bought and sold to someone from China."
But Gerry wasn't deterred, and phoned up the auctioneer to ask if there was still a chance.
"After dwelling on it for a few months, I was so annoyed that I phoned the auctioneer and asked if he could buy it back if it was still in the country," he said.
"They told me that it had already gone to China. I was really upset that our confectionary heritage went to China that I even thought of going there to get it back but the auctioneer said 'don't worry, surprisingly we have another slice of cake'."
Now he has his cake Gerry made clear that he has plans to eat it in the future, despite warnings from doctors.
And we're not talking just digging in in the kitchen either - he plans to replicate the wedding banquet itself on the Royal Yacht Britannia.
Gerry, who charters and owns a yacht, adds: "As a mariner and pilot, I have always been interested in anything maritime related. I have always wanted to visit Royal Britannia because I followed its past.
"So last year, on my birthday, I had a piece of cake and ate it in the public tea rooms but I then saw the sate banqueting table which has hosted four US presidents.
"It is all roped off - so I thought that in advance of buying the cake, I can eat it there. I did not care how much I paid. I was going to get it. I even contacted the organiser of the Royal Britannia to enquire about renting out the state banquet room which is about £500.
"So in two years time, I will be sat where the Duke of Edinburgh would have been, leaving a seat empty for where the Queen sat, eating their cake. I can imagine them looking down at me laughing. Who could dream that their wedding cake would be eaten by somebody at that table nearly 80 years on?
"The cake looks ok but God knows what is inside of it. I thought I would just get a chef to flambé it and it would be ok but doctors said that it will not kill everything and is advising against it. However, now that I have got the idea in my head, I am doing it. I have thought of even renting out a private ambulance."
If you thought this would be the first royal cake that Gerry has sampled you would be wrong, as he has previously bought King Charles and Diana's wedding cake, as well as William and Kate's wedding cake, and the Queen's Jubilee Cake.
Gerry said: "I ate their cake [Charles and Diana's] during King Charles' coronation - which I thought was a bizarre nod to Diana on their wedding. I then had a charter coronation party by some wealthy clients who had been on board before.
"However, I was a little ill after eating a small portion of the cake. Luckily I had rented out another crew and captain to takeover, so I could go home."
Gerry shared that he plans to eat a third of the cake, before selling the rest back in an auction as well as tickets for his yacht birthday party in two years, which will cost £500 each.