A slice of cake from Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip’s wedding has sold at auction for £2,200.

The fruit cake was found under a bed in a suitcase in the original box, along with a presentation card postmarked April 21 1948, auctioneers Reeman Dansie said.

It was put up for sale by the family of Marion Polson, an ex-member of the Royal Household who worked at Holyroodhouse from 1931 to 1969 and who later died in the 1980s.

“It’s incredibly rare because normally, of course, people would have eaten it,” said Jonathan Benson, auctioneer at Reeman Dansie.

Slices of the cake were gifted to royal staff to mark the wedding of then-Princess Elizabeth to Lieutenant Prince Philip of Greece R.N. on November 20 1947.

“The cakes were made at a time when rationing was still fully enforced,” said Mr Benson.

“It would have been such a treat for the household staff, the obvious thing to do was eat them.”

The fully packaged cake in its original state is “very rare” and was expected to gather £500, but was sold over the phone on Tuesday to a Chinese buyer for £2,200.

Mr Benson said: “Fruit cake to my knowledge is pretty resilient, it’s dried out but I don’t think it goes off, and while we have not tried it, it may retain some of its flavour.

“It’s amazing how much interest a piece of fruit cake can create in one day.”