A FORMER Navy chef has recalled how he helped mark a major landmark in Princess Diana's life ahead of the 10th anniversary of her death.

East Lancashire man Dave Avery has told of his honour at baking Charles and Diana's wedding cake - and his sadness at her death.

Mr Avery said two dates connected to the Princess will always strike a chord with him.

One of them is July 29, the day she and Prince Charles were married at St Paul's Cathedral in 1981. The other is August 31, 1997, when she died in a car crash in a Paris underpass.

Mr Avery, 64, was born and raised in Mosley Street, Blackburn, and was a petty officer in the Royal Navy at the time of the wedding.

Due to Prince Charles's links with the Navy, it fell to one of their members to make the cake for the reception at Buckingham Palace.

Mr Avery, who left school at 15 and went to work for Blackburn bakers Kenyons, joined the Navy at 19 and his cooking skills were put to the test in the run up to the Royal wedding.

And Mr Avery, who was 37 at the time, admitted that it was a nerve-racking experience.

He said: "The cake was 5ft 4inches tall and stood on five separate tiers. It weighed two and a half hundredweight.

"It took me 14 weeks to make and we had to make two exactly the same because we had to transfer them from our base at Chatham, Kent, to London, and were worried one might break. Thankfully they didn't."

Mr Avery, who also made the cake for Prince William's christening, said trying to keep the project under wraps proved to be a challenge in the weeks before the wedding.

He said: "It was a great honour but a lot of hard work and worry. The event came under worldwide attention and the press were always trying to get a look at what we were doing."

Mr Avery told how he met Diana as he was preparing the cake. He said: "I had to go and see if my design was what she wanted. She said to me I want a wedding cake, not a monument'. I think that's what she got.

"I'll never forget her. She was very quiet and shy but was happy with my design."

On the day she died, Mr Avery was scheduled to be doing an advertisement for West Kent College where he taught cookery, but he found himself reminiscing to Radio Kent about his role in the wedding.

Mr Avery, who now lives in Surfleet, Lincolnshire, said: "I'll always remember where I was in the day following her death, like many people do.

"For me, her death was very upsetting and still is."