The 31-year-old piece of toast will go under the hammer later this month. — Archive photoLONDON — It has been described as the ‘world's most upper-crust slice of toast' — and is likely to cook-up a feeding frenzy among collectors of royal memorabilia when it goes under the hammer later this month. For although at first glance it may appear to be nothing more than a humble leftover from the breakfast table, its royal connection is expected to see its status soar to one of the most valuable food items ever sold at auction in the UK. The slice in question is a remnant from the breakfast served to Prince Charles on the day he married Lady Diana Spencer at St Paul's Cathedral on July 29, 1981. Auctioneer Charles Hanson, who will be selling the uneaten morsel, said it could be evidence Charles' appetite on the big day was curbed by a bout of ‘wedding nerves'. These days, it has been reported, Charles's breakfasts are an elaborate serving of freshly squeezed orange juice, a small bowl of freshly peeled and cut fruit, specially made muesli, milk from the Windsor Castle dairy, granary toast, and six different types of honey. However, back in 1981, the Prince may have opted to spare his appetite with lighter fare in the knowledge that after their marriage he and Princess Diana were due to tuck into a full wedding breakfast with 120 guests. The slice is to be sold at Charles Hanson Auctioneers, in Etwall, Derbys, on behalf of Rosemarie Smith, whose daughter worked as a maid and a dresser for the Royal family for almost three decades. Official protocol prevents the retired servant, who asked not to be named, from talking about her time with the Royals, but she was happy to allow her 83-year-old mother to describe how the toast came into her possession. Mrs Smith, who lives near Derby, told how she had been invited by her daughter to spend the hours before the wedding at Buckingham Palace. She said: “At the time my daughter was a maid at the Palace and one of her duties was to collect Prince Charles's breakfast tray from outside his room. “I was with her in the corridor and saw that Prince Charles had left some toast on the tray. I had been thinking about a keepsake from the wedding and saw the toast and thought to myself: ‘Why not'?" — Agencies
