THIS is the face of a delighted Royalist who, after waiting 72 years, has finally got her perfect wedding cake.
When Grace Collins heard Prince Harry and future wife Meghan Markle were to serve guests an elderflower and lemon drizzle cake, her response was it is “all wrong”.
To prove just how wrong a choice it was, the Alderwood care home resident enlisted the baking skills of resident chef Paul Rush to show the Royals how it is done.
The 95-year-old requested a traditional and simple round fruit cake with icing and marzipan, and piped icing around the edge.
A silver vase on top of the cake was filled with her favourite flowers - carnations.
Nikki Leaney, Alderwood home manager, said: “Our residents have been eagerly following all the stories about the Royal wedding.
“When the announcement came about the couple’s cake, quite a few including Grace, expressed their view the cake should be traditional.
“That’s when we discovered Grace never had a cake when she was married and where the idea came from for a pre-wedding cake celebration, with a cake for Grace at the centre.”
Deputy mayor and mayoress of Colchester, Peter and Ann Chillingworth, attended the party.
More cakes were made by the Great Horkesley Beavers group, students from Lexden Springs School, Colchester Academy and Colchester Institute - all opting to make the kind of cake they think Meghan and Harry should have chosen.
Leftover cakes were given to rough sleepers.
Grace and husband John in their younger years
Grace got married post World War Two in October 1946.
Rationing meant wedding cakes were frequently made partly, or completely, with cardboard.
Although some lucky brides and grooms could afford to have cakes, this became difficult after July 1940 when a complete ban was put on the making or selling of iced cakes.
By September of that year, the ban on manufacturing candied peel and crystallised cherries meant the end of the traditional wedding cake.
Grace had no guests or family at her registry office wedding, witnessed by the couple who had just got married before them.
With no plans for a wedding breakfast of their own, and no cake, the witnesses invited Grace and her husband to join them at their wedding breakfast.
READ MORE: SCHOOL SWEETHEARTS TO TIE THE KNOT ON THE SAME DAY AS THE ROYALS
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