Royal wedding cakes are often towering confections that earn their own special photoshoot with the happy couple, such as Prince Harry and Meghan Markle cutting their lemon and elderflower cake by Claire Ptak with a ceremonial sword.
Queen Letizia appeared to skip this highly anticipated picture opportunity, with very few photos showing the chocolate cake she chose with her husband, King Felipe of Spain, for their big day on 22 May 2004.
In honour of the royal couple's 21st wedding anniversary, we've unearthed a rare peek of the 14-foot "serpentine" cake crafted by Spanish cakemaker Francisco Torreblanca.
Made up of eight separate sponges, it consisted of one large cake at the bottom and progressively smaller ones snaking up the twisted wooden structure.
Each of the mirror-glaze cakes, which combined dark chocolate for the future king and sweet chocolate and olive oil biscuits for the future queen, were topped with red swirls and berries.
King Juan Carlos reportedly later described the cake as "a work of art", but it had marked differences from other cakes chosen by European royals.
© NetflixMeghan and Harry famously broke protocol with their citrus cake, while the likes of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip and Prince William and Princess Kate chose traditional fruit cake topped with white icing.
Royal wedding
© GettyFormer journalist Letizia wed her Prince at Madrid's Almudena Cathedral, walking down the aisle arm in arm with her father Jesús José Ortiz Álvarez.
The bride wore a show-stopping wedding dress with a high-standing collar designed by 87-year-old Spanish couturier Manuel Pertegaz, estimated to be the most expensive royal wedding dress of all time, with an eye-watering price tag of £6 million.
The fabric was covered in heavy embroidery depicting the fleur de lys and ears of wheat, details from the Prince of Asturias crest, while a four-and-a-half-meter circular train pooled out behind her.
© GettyShe accessorised with a diamond tiara, which her mother-in-law, Queen Sofia, had worn on her wedding day to King Juan Carlos in 1962.
Following the nuptials, the pair climbed into their Rolls-Royce to enjoy a procession through the streets of Madrid before waving to crowds from the balcony of the Royal Palace.
The happy newlyweds were later pictured enjoying a lavish wedding banquet, where Prince Felipe delivered a touching speech to his new wife. "I am a happy man because I have fulfilled my most precious dream. I have married the woman I love," he said.
