An aide to Britain's royal family has lost his job after attempting to sell one of Queen Elizabeth's traditional Christmas puddings on internet auction site eBay, a report said Friday.

In what was described by officials as a "security breach", Ben Church, a 25-year-old office administrator, was sacked for allegedly using official palace documents in his advert for the pudding, the Daily Mirror newspaper said.

"Disciplinary action was taken as a result of an incident where a pudding was placed on eBay," a Buckingham Palace spokesperson said.

The traditional British Christmas favourite — a rich, round-shaped mix of dried fruit, suet and spices — was one of 1450 the Queen gives to staff as gifts every year, the newspaper said.

According to the Daily Mirror, Church was escorted out of London's Buckingham Palace after it was revealed he had advertised the pudding, which costs #6.25 (€9, $12) from famous London food store Fortnum and Mason, for #20 ($39, €29).

Church had only been working at the palace for seven weeks as a building maintenance administrator, said the spokesperson.

n unnamed colleague told the Daily Mirror: "It's really mean and petty to sack him so close to Christmas, all for the sake of a pudding."

The Christmas pudding was not the first royal dessert to be sold on eBay — according to the Daily Mirror, a slice of wedding cake from the 1981 nuptials of heir to the throne Prince Charles and the late Princess Diana's was also spotted on the website earlier this week.