Curiously cutting edge royal memorabilia

Wedding cakes are a curious phenomenon and a rare opportunity for bakers to go totally over the top. But Royal wedding cakes take the biscuit in terms of elaborate decoration and conspicuous excess.

If you’re following the Royal Wedding news, you’ll have heard that William and Kate have opted for ‘his and hers’ wedding cakes. Hers will be the official multi-tiered fruit cake, decorated with edible flowers - representing the emblems of England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland...










His choice, of an unbaked chocolate biscuit cake by McVitie’s, is not quite as curious as it seems: In 1923, The Duke of York and Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon (later George VI and The Queen Mother) picked the Scottish company to make their cake, in recognition of the bride’s Scottish roots.





So, what are we to expect? The ‘bride cake’ for Queen Victoria’s wedding in 1840 was nearly 3 metres wide and weighed more than 135 kg. Even the Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall’s 2005 nuptials boasted a cake that included 1,080 eggs, 100 kg of marzipan and 36 bottles of booze.

A fair part of any royal cake will be sliced up to be presented in commemorative tins for the guests. A piece of cake from the 1981 wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana fetched £1,000 at an auction in 2008.




Of course, every wedding cake also needs an appropriate knife, and we may have found just the thing: This curiously collectable vintage cake knife from ShopCurious commemorates the Queen’s Coronation in 1953.

Presented in its original gold and red embossed box, this charming piece of cutlery is in excellent condition, and would make a lovely wedding gift - though I’m not sure it was designed to cut through a cake made from frozen chocolate biscuits.

Are you?

The beautiful flag

Britain’s once again under the spotlight in the sporting fixtures, which, translated into fashion terms, equates to the Great British flag (and all parts thereof). Our little island’s colours are appearing everywhere, as flags are waved for the vehemently revered football and tennis stars of this quirkily sportsmanlike state.












Just a week ago, at Royal Ascot, flags and patriotic colours were very much in evidence on hats, dresses, accessories - and even picnic floral displays, as England played their rather disappointing game against Algeria.




Now, of course, the mood is altogether different – and even Andy Murray’s won at Wimbledon. Let’s see how England fares today...











And, if our need to sport the Union Jack should sadly wane, there’s always the chance that a royal wedding is in the offing, to keep the demand for flags buoyant...



I rather fancy that bits of memorabilia and mementos of our glittering past, like this 1981 vintage royal commemorative tin from ShopCurious, could become extremely popular and desirable in future, as curiously collectable heirloom pieces - and to remind us of our peculiarly unique heritage:














being such good old sports...

Are you?

British tea time treasures

Here in the UK, we’re currently suffering from stresses and strains on all fronts:

Firstly, if you’re an England supporter, you’re understandably going to be feeling a little depressed at the moment.

There’s also the added worry that our economy is headed down the tubes – and the potential implications of the Chancellor’s emergency Budget on our finances is rather vexing (I’m still curious to know exactly what it means for me.. are you?)



Plus, now it’s Wimbledon fortnight too - so we’re going to be agonizing over Andy and fretting about the weather forecast for a while.

Thankfully, us Brits have a universal panacea to all our woes in the form of the great British cuppa.





However, just in case our manifold troubles are causing you to feel a little less patriotic than usual, I’d like to suggest a little teatime jollification. Why not celebrate British heritage by investing in one of these curiously collectable vintage royal commemorative tins from ShopCurious?







They make perfect tea caddies and are great as biscuit tins too… What’s more, these sorts of heirloom collectibles can often turn out to be quite a wise investment.







Best of all, the beaming monarchical faces adorning these splendid tins will have you gloriously grinning with pride as you sip a cup of strong tea and dunk a few biccies –









unless, perhaps, you prefer to toast Her Majesty with a glass of cider…


Do you?