And the icing on the cake? £44,000 for Diana’s bicycle

IT IS not just pottery that holds value – other unusual items connected to the Royal Family and events are also highly sought after.

Paul Fraser Collectibles’ Dan Wade says: ‘If you want to profit from Royalty memorabilia you should certainly consider buying something unusual – and avoid mass production.

‘For example a £3,000 slice of wedding cake when the Queen married Prince Philip in 1947 is only likely to rise in value.’

A slice of cake from the 2011 wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton went under the hammer for £5,500 in 2014.

Cake from the 1981 wedding between Prince Charles and Princess Diana sold for £1,756 in 2012 while a slice of 1840 fruitcake from Queen Victoria and Prince Albert’s nuptials went for £1,500 in 2016.

Items that were once owned by Royalty can also prove valuable collectors’ items – so long as their provenance can be proven. A Raleigh Traveller bicycle, right, once used by Lady Diana was sold for a record £44,000 last year – having previously been snapped up for £9,200 in 2018.

The so-called ‘shame bike’ was used by the then Lady Diana Spencer when she cycled to work at a nursery school in London. She was then ordered to sell it after her engagement to Prince Charles because it was not deemed to be a suitable mode of transport for a future monarch’s wife. It was originally sold by a friend of Lady Diana for £211 in 2008.

James Grinter is managing director of auction house Reeman Dansie, which occasionally sells Royal artefacts. He says: ‘Values of items related to Royalty have grown over the years and may continue – as there is no doubt

Queen Elizabeth II will go down as one of our greatest monarchs.’

Three years ago, the Colchesterbased auction house sold a coronet and ermine-lined robe that was worn by the Earl of Westmorland at the King George IV coronation in 1821. It fetched a price of £4,000.