A tier of Queen Elizabeth's wedding cake was sent to Australia: Here’s why

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A tier of Queen Elizabeth's wedding cake was sent to Australia: Here’s why
© Keystone
A tier of Queen Elizabeth's wedding cake was sent to Australia: Here’s why
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Queen Elizabeth’s wedding was one of the landmark events of the last century. Some lucky Australians actually got sent a tier of her wedding cake. Here is the reason why.

Queen Elizabeth (then a Princess) and Philip Mountbatten got married on Thursday 20 November 1947 at Westminster Abbey in London, United Kingdom. According to ABC, their wedding cake was truly a stunning sight. It was a four-tier cake which was 9 feet (2.7 metres) high and weighed 220 kilograms.

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It was a fruitcake which was flavoured with alcohol and decorated with scenes from the Queen’s life. Interestingly, a whole tier of the wedding cake was then sent to Australia.

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The cake was nicknamed ‘the 10,000-mile cake’

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chief confectioner at McVitie and Price Ltd, standing next to the official cake for Princess Elizabeth's marriage to Philip Mountbatten J. A. Hampton

Queen Elizabeth got married in the aftermath of the Second World War on November 20, 1947. There was still food rationing in Britain and so the ingredients for the royal wedding cake had to be procured from across the British Empire.

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The cake had butter from New Zealand, flour from Canada and rum from Jamaica while the brandy was from South Africa. All these ingredients from far-off countries were shipped to be baked by McVitie and Price, in England.

This was the reason the cake was nicknamed the ‘10,000-mile cake.’

A tier of the cake was sent to Australia to thank the Girl Guides

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Miss Anderton, general secretary of Imperial headquarters, receiving a gift of ingredients for Princess Elizabeth's wedding cake presented by three Australian Girl Guides Central Press
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Along with all the far-off countries sending ingredients for the cake, the Australian Girl Guides also chipped in with their own contribution: the dried fruit for the cake, which included about 30kg of sultanas, 6kg of currants and 5kg of crystallised cherries.

Queen Elizabeth was herself an active member of the Australian Girl Guides. Two former Girl Guides even served as bridesmaids for the wedding.

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Sending a tier of the cake back to Australia was a way for the newly-wed couple to say thanks to the Australian Girl Guides. The cake was divided up between different Girl Guide branches in different Australian states.

Read more:

⋙ The Queen's death: Who will inherit Elizabeth II's massive fortune?

⋙ The Queen's death: $12000 tea bag reportedly used by monarch is now on sale on eBay

⋙ Queen Elizabeth II: Rare photos of the monarch before her coronation

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