BRIDE CAKE
made by HUNTLEY & PALMERS, LIMITED. for THE LADY ELIZABETH BOWES-LYON on the occasion of her Marriage with H.R.H. THE DUKE OF YORK, K.G. at WESTMINSTER ABBEY APRIL 26TH, 1923. With a finely illustrated border of two intertwining ribbons. The back cover is a little stained and the front cover has a couple of small smudges. Internally very clean.
210 x 172mm. Front cover with fine delicate drawing with the couple's portraits. Above them is the family crests. Underneath the wedding date of 1923. Beautifully delineated with silver and blue. Title page. [1] 2p of The Lady Elizabeth's noble background and her ancestral home of Glamis Castle. A full-page b/w photograph of the huge cake. [1] 9p of description of the tiers of the cake and the symbolism of the decoration. The back page with 2 illustrations of a standing Lion and Lioness. symbolising the couple's Royal connections. Housed in a sympathetic blue and silver marbled cardboard folder.
- Elizabeth Angela Marguerite Bowes-Lyon (4 August 1900 – 30 March 2002) was Queen of the United Kingdom and the Dominions from 1936 to 1952 as the wife of King George VI. As George's wife, she was the last empress of India. After her husband died, she was known as Queen Elizabeth, The Queen Mother, to avoid confusion with her daughter, the present Queen, Elizabeth II. Born into a family of British nobility, she only came to prominence in 1923 when she married the Duke of York, the second son of King George V and Queen Mary. The couple and their daughters Elizabeth and Margaret, embodied traditional ideas of family and public service. The Duchess undertook a variety of public engagements and became known for her consistently cheerful countenance. In 1936, Elizabeth's husband unexpectedly became king when his older brother, Edward VIII, abdicated in order to marry the American divorcée Wallis Simpson. Elizabeth then became queen. She accompanied her husband on diplomatic tours to France and North America before the start of the Second World War. During the war, her seemingly indomitable spirit provided moral support to the British public. After the war, her husband's health deteriorated, and she was widowed at the age of 51. Her elder daughter, aged 25, became the new queen. After the death of Queen Mary in 1953, Elizabeth was viewed as the matriarch of the British royal family. In her later years, she was a consistently popular member of the family, even when other members were suffering from low levels of public approval. She continued an active public life until just a few months before her death at the age of 101 years, 238 days, which was seven weeks after the death of her younger daughter, Princess Margaret. This brochure of the Queen Mother's wedding cake was following a long Royal tradition of making public the details and pageantry of a Royal marriage, all carefully presented and choreographed. The cake had four tiers. The base Tier 7.5 feet in circumference. The decoration of all the tiers was very carefully inclusive and thought out, to include all the aspects of the couple's nobility and the various strands of ancestry and contemporary obligations. Described here in amazing detail. Very rarely found appearing on the market.
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Ephemera category
ref number:
11316