Darren McGrady, a former Royal chef, has dished out the one food that Royal babies never feast upon, and it’s quite unexpected. Having served as a chef to Queen Elizabeth II, Princess Diana, and Princes William and Harry over his illustrious 15-year career, Darren is well-versed in Royal culinary traditions.
In a previous conversation with TODAY.com, Darren explained: “I’ve certainly never seen packaged food with any of the Royal babies. Why would they buy packaged food when the Queen has 20 personal chefs?”
Reflecting on his time in the Royal kitchens, Darren recalled crafting the first solid foods for William and Harry, involving steamed pears and apples from the Royal Sandringham estate, meticulously pureed and sieved to remove any lumps. “As they got older, you’d have one chef in the kitchen doing the chicken, one doing the veg, and then it would all be blended together; it was a major operation cooking for them,” he said.
The chef reminisced about preparing chocolate biscuit cake, made famous at William and Kate’s wedding, and peanut butter and jelly muffins, inspired by the princes’ visit to Disney World. However, as Darren pointed out, the boys didn’t always have the luxury of choosing their meals.
If the children were in charge, the Royal menu would likely feature amore pizza, burgers and chicken nuggets, according to the Mirror. In another interview with HELLO, Darren said: “They liked comfort food dishes. They loved banana flan, anything with banana really, banana ice cream. They loved things like mixed grills, burgers, pizza, spaghetti and meatballs, chicken and cream chicken sauce… They were Royal children but they still had children’s palates.”
Recently, Tom Parker Bowles also shared a classic breakfast recipe that became a ‘Boxing Day staple’ among some Royals. The dish, dubbed ‘buttered eggs’ by Princess Margaret, was often prepared in ‘huge quantities’ every December by his mother, Queen Camilla.
In his new book, ‘Cooking & The Crown‘, Tom explained: “Another favourite growing up, my mother, Queen Camilla seemed to be able to make huge quantities of these, with the minimum fuss.
“It was also a Boxing Day staple – some (relatively) light relief, usually made with out own eggs, that always seem to taste better than any other on earth… Princess Margaret didn’t like the word ‘scrambled’ and insisted on calling them ‘buttered eggs’, which certainly has an appealing burr.”