How Princess Diana and Prince Charles’ Wedding Cake Compared to Meghan Markle and Prince Harry’s
Princess Diana and Prince Charles’ wedding cake helped make the royal wedding one of the most lavish the world had ever seen. It was over the top in so many respects, including the couple’s choice of dessert. However, in contrast, the couple’s son, Prince Harry, and his wife Meghan Markle’s wedding was less spectacle and more low-key. Their wedding cake also reflected their personalities. How did these two weddings compare in the cake department? Here are the details.
What kind of cake did Charles and Diana have?
Princess Diana and Prince Charles’ 1981 wedding was over the top in every aspect. From the bride’s dress and veil to the number of guests at their wedding, there were few understated moments at the wedding of the century.
However, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle tried to make their royal wedding as intimate as possible. The couple tied the knot at St. George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle instead of Westminster Abbey in keeping with a lower-key setting.
The couple kept to the same idea regarding their wedding cake. Harry and Meghan served a deconstructed elderflower-flavored cake, with their biggest cake only two tiers tall.
In contrast, Princess Diana and Prince Charles had a traditional fruitcake. Their cake was five tiers high, soaked in rum, and covered in royal icing.
How many wedding cakes did Charles and Diana have?
Princess Diana and Prince Charles invited 3,500 guests to watch them take their vows at Westminster Abbey in July 1981. The guest list was a who’s who in politics, entertainment, and other key industries, and family and friends who returned to Buckingham Palace for an official luncheon. Their evening reception number was close to 150.
The royal couple had 26 smaller cakes alongside their five-tiered fruitcake to feed that many people. The baker of the main cake, David Avery, hailed from the Royal Naval Cookery School. He also created an identical copy of the main cake in case something happened to the original.
In contrast, Meghan Markle and Prince Harry filled St. George’s Chapel with its capacity of 600 guests. Later, they had a luncheon for those guests and held a private reception for over 200 close family members and friends that evening.
Other smaller cakes also supplemented Meghan and Harry’s to feed everyone. They were all baked by Claire Ptak of London’s Violet Bakery.
What was served at Charles and Diana’s wedding?
Before the cakes could be cut at Princess Diana and Prince Charles’s wedding, the food had to be served. The couple had an extravagant menu of dishes, and one was even named after the new Princess of Wales.
All of the couple’s dishes were French-based. The main courses included Quenelles de Barbue Cardinal, a quenelle of brill doused with lobster sauce, and Suprême de Volaille Princess de Galles, a chicken breast filled with lamb mousse named after the Princess of Wales. Sides were fèves au beurre (butter beans), maïs à la crème (cream of corn), pommes nouvelles (new potatoes), and salade (salad).
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s guests enjoyed a range of British cuisine. Passed canapés included Scottish langoustines wrapped in smoked salmon with citrus crème fraiche, heritage tomato and basil tartare with balsamic pearl, confit Windsor lamb croquettes with roasted vegetables, and garden pea panna cotta with quail eggs and lemon verbena.
Following, food bowls came in three options: a free-range chicken with mushrooms, a pea and mint risotto with truffle oil and parmesan, and a ten-hour slow-roasted Windsor pork belly with apple compote and crackling.
Princess Diana and Prince Charles were married in July 1981. Meghan Markle and Prince Harry wed in May 2018.
