For Breakfast, Queen Elizabeth II of England Likes to Eat…
Corn flakes. Yep, you read that right. According to former royal Chef Darren McGrady, the longest-serving monarch in British history likes to start her day with Kellogg’s corn flakes. Sometimes she eats it out of a bowl, but other times she’ll skip the milk and just eat the crunchy cereal out of a plastic container. He added that she’ll also have a cup of Darjeeling tea.
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The Only Food That was Forbidden was…
Garlic. British Chef Carolyn Robb who cooked for Prince Charles, Princess Diana, Princes William and Harry from 1989 to 2000, was not allowed to serve them anything with garlic. Not because they didn’t like it but because of their constant public appearances, events and meetings, which made for lots of talking to people up close (aka not ideal when you have garlic breath). Chef Mcgrady also said the Queen hates the smell and taste of garlic, so that probably had a lot to do with it.
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On Christmas Day, the Royals Eat…
Three meals, plus afternoon tea with fruitcake. Chef McGrady said the Royal family starts their day with a hearty breakfast before church. For lunch, they usually have turkey plus sides (sage and onion stuffing carrots, parsnips, Brussels sprouts, mashed potatoes), salad with shrimp or lobster and a flaming Christmas pudding. Then they’d get up to stretch their legs a bit and shortly after sit down to watch the Queen’s speech. Afterward, they would enjoy afternoon tea with chocolate yule log cake, various sandwiches, mince pies, fruit cake, scones, etc. Finally, the last meal of the day consists of a big buffet with gourmet cheeses, foie gras en croûte hot and cold dishes and a huge York ham hand-carved by the Head Chef. Talk about making the holiday feast(s) count!
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Apparently, Prince Philip Prefers to Drink…
Black coffee. It’s been said that he rarely drinks tea of any kind. Doesn’t sound very British! But we doubt the Duke of Edinburgh has ever been criticized for his caffeine preferences.
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Almost All the Food They Eat is Made From…
Scratch. Pasta, bread, condiments, ice cream, you name it, the important thing is that they’re eating the freshest food with the freshest ingredients possible. It doesn’t necessarily mean that the meals are always elaborate, but healthy and homemade are definitely favored.
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When the Queen Dines on Her Own, She’ll Usually Have…
Grilled or poached fish with salad. With all the pomp and circumstance that comes with formal dinner occasions, the Queen’s dinner is actually pretty plain and healthy the rest of the time. She also has a no starch rule when dining alone, so that means heavy carbs like potatoes, rice or pasta are out.
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The Youngest Royals are Eating…
Lunches fit for a King and Queen. Despite their transition to home schooling due to the coronavirus pandemic, Prince George and Princess Charlotte, the first-born son and only daughter of Prince Williams and Kate Middleton, are both enrolled at Thomas’s Battersea School in London, where the lunch menu is comparable to those of fancy restaurants. Some of the sample menus feature: boeuf bourguignon, chicken and chorizo jambalaya, roasted pork loin with apple sauce and vegetable gravy, chicken katsu with mild curry sauce, authentic lamb and apricot tagine, plus fish, vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free/dairy-free/allergy options. On top of that, they get to choose from organic milk or water, fresh baked organic breads, soup and dessert. Whew! Who said kids were picky eaters?
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As for Will & Kate, Their Takeout Food of Choice is…
Curry. Kate confided this to BBC Radio One in 2017, and while Will seemed to agree, he noted that he can’t really handle spicy food. They also clarified that the food doesn’t get sent to Buckingham palace but rather gets picked up (by someone other than themselves obviously). Indulging in a tasty takeout curry while watching box-set television sounds pretty normal to us!
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One Thing the Queen Can’t Pass up is…
Dark chocolate. According to Chef McGrady, “it has to be the dark chocolate, the darker the better.”
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While Traveling, the Royals aren’t Allowed to Eat…
Shellfish. The same goes for raw meat and tap water, due to the fact that the quality of these aliments can’t be verified for meeting royal standards and therefore could pose a high risk of food poisoning. This would obviously be problematic not only for their health but also for their extremely busy schedules. Will and Kate broke protocol, however, when they accepted to eat raw geoduck (a type of clam native to the west coast of North America) in 2016 during a tour of Canada.
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Prince Charles’s Perfect Picnic Sandwich Is…
A homemade organic granary bap (bap is British for bun or roll). According to French Chef Hervé Marchand, the Prince requests it to be exactly 8 cm in diameter and halved. One half is to be buttered, then spread with mayonnaise and pesto, topped with shredded salad leaves and an egg cooked over hard (no runny yolk) and seasoned. Two slices of Gruyere cheese go on top, while the second half of the bap is to be lightly buttered and smeared with a bit of Marmite. Once the sandwich is assembled, it needs to be covered in some white flour to give it a “rustic” look.
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Most of the Ingredients Used for Making Meals at Highgrove Came from…
The estate. Turns out Prince Charles, Lady Di, Princes William and Harry didn’t regularly indulge in elaborate meals with rare, high-priced ingredients at their Highgrove Estate. Chef Robb insists that most of the ingredients came from the garden and the estate, including game, wild mushrooms, milk and fruits and vegetables. Caviar and truffles were occasionally used but only if they’d been gifted and were not bought by the Royals themselves.
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The Queen’s Strict Diet Also Applies to…
Her four-legged companions. Chef McGrady said the horses get to snack on perfectly-peeled and chopped carrots, cut finger-length so the Queen could serve them without getting bit. He also once served the Queen’s beloved corgis a meal of finely chopped simmered rabbit and chicken.
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The Kitchen Staff Still Uses Pots and Pans from…
The 1800’s. Chef McGrady confided that the Queen “eats to live rather than lives to eat,” which means that the kitchen is lower on her priority list. He added that the Royals would prefer to spend money on horses and saddles than replace the old pots and pans.
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The Queen’s Favorite Drink is…
A gin and Dubonnet. Dubonnet is a sweet wine-based aperitif composed of a blend of fortified wine, herbs and spices (fermentation stops when alcohol is added). Despite the rumors you might have read about the Queen throwing back four drinks a day, Chef McGrady says it’s all rubbish. McGrady says when she’s going to have wine with dinner (which is rare), she’ll have sweet German wine.
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The Royal Family Used to Receive Christmas Hampers from This Famous Luxury Department Store…
Harrods. Former owner of the store Mohamed Al-Fayed was the father of Dodi Al-Fayed, Lady Di’s companion until the infamous Paris car crash which led to their deaths. Harrods held a royal warrant from 1913 on behalf of Queen Mary and another granted by Prince Philip in 1956. Before Prince Philip withdrew the royal warrant in 2000, the family would receive a hamper from Harrods every Christmas, filled with all sorts of delicious treats.
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Lady Di was a Very Healthy Eater Who Preferred…
Stuffed vegetables. It is well-known that the Princess of Wales had struggled with bulimia, so healthy eating was extremely important for her in overcoming that. She also stayed away from red meat and stuck with chicken and fish for her protein.
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Even the Royals Store Their Leftovers in…
Tupperware. Apparently, Prince Charles was quite thrifty, so whenever there were leftovers, they’d be packed into tupperware and either eaten the following day or used for another dish. Even Queen Elizabeth II has no qualms eating out of a container from time to time.
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The Queen Never Skips this Meal…
Afternoon tea. If there’s one thing you can’t take away from the British, it’s their love of tea (except for Prince Philip). According to Chef Mcgrady, it has been a sacred ritual for the Queen and her family that starts at 5 pm and typically features cakes, small pastries, scones and two types of sandwiches (smoked salmon or Sage Derby cheese and tomato, roast beef or jam pennies). Former Royal Chef Graham Newbould once said that the family never eats square sandwiches because the tradition goes that anyone presenting them with pointy-edged food is attempting to overthrow the throne. Whether that’s really true or not will remain a mystery to mere mortals like ourselves…
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Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother Once Choked on…
A fishbone. In 1982, when she was 82 years old, the Queen Mother accidentally choked on a fishbone while dining at the Royal Lodge in Windsor and had to be rushed to the hospital for emergency surgery. Luckily, the operation went smoothly, and the Queen recovered well.
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The Duke of Edinburgh (Prince Philip) Loves…
Barbecues on the estates. He’s a huge fan of Scottish meats, particularly steak marinated with a touch of marmite. Whether he’s the one manning the grill is another question.
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Prince Charles Follows This DIet…
Organic. Prince Charles is probably one of the healthiest eaters in the Royal family, preferring organic everything. Even to the annoyance of Prince Philip who once mistook a hamper from Prince Charles (full of organic food) for the annual hamper from Harrods. According to Chef McGrady, when he realized what it was, he slammed the hamper closed, muttered “it’s bloody organic” and walked off.
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The Queen was Once Fed a Stew with This Kind of Rodent…
Gibnut. It’s very similar to chipmunk, and stewed gibnut is a traditional dish from the Caribbean nation of Belize. The Queen was served it while on a visit and apparently she found the taste similar to rabbit. Ever since, locals began calling it “The Queen’s Rat” or “The Royal Rat.”
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Lady Di Used to Let Her Sons Indulge at This Fast Food Establishment…
McDonald’s. Besides, who could deprive kids, royal or not, of some good old American fast food growing up? Chef McGrady also said it wasn’t just about the burgers but the toys in the Happy Meals, too. We get it.
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This Dish was Invented for the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II In 1953…
Coronation chicken. And it’s still a popular British recipe served today. It was invented by Constance Spry and Rosemary Hume, who were principals of the Cordon Bleu School in London. Their recipe simply called for pre-cooked cold chicken meat, herbs, spices and creamy mayo-based sauce. Curry powder is what gives it that golden, mustard-y hue, and today it can be eaten as a salad or in sandwiches.
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Kate Middleton Offered This Homemade Gift to the Queen for Her First Christmas with the Royal Family…
Chutney. It was a recipe from her own grandmother, and that was her gift to the Queen. Although Kate was nervous about it, she said she noticed it was on the table the following day. Traditionally, the Royal family refrains from exchanging lavish gifts at Christmastime and instead opt for silly gag items or homemade ones like this.
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Prince Charles and Lady Di Ate Fancy when…
Entertaining guests. Chef Robb said that there would always be butlers serving food on silver platters if company was over. But when it was just the two of them, they might enjoy a meal with food on normal trays in front of the fireplace together.
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Prince Harry Loves Eating These for Breakfast…
Bacon and sausage sandwiches. It was revealed when the Prince met nine-year-old Marni Ahmed at the 2017 WellChild Awards in London. Many news outlets also report that Prince Harry requested a food truck with the greasy indulgence at his brother Prince William’s wedding back in 2011.
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When Prince Harry Proposed to Meghan Markle, they were Cooking…
Roast chicken. In an interview with BBC news, the couple revealed they were roasting a chicken at home when the Prince popped the question. So cute! He obviously didn’t need all the bells and whistles or an extravagant proposal to get the former American actress to accept.
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One of Meghan Markle’s Favorite Meals is…
Collard greens, black-eyed peas and cornbread. In the forward to her charity-based community cookbook Together: Our Community Cookbook (created with survivors of the Grenfell Tower fire in 2017), Markle writes, “One of my favorite meals is collard greens, black-eyed peas and cornbread—a meal I would look forward to throughout my childhood: the smell of yellow onions simmering amongst a slow-cooked pot of greens from my grandma’s back garden; the earthy texture of the peas; and a golden loaf of cornbread puff—puffing away to a browned peak in the warmth of the oven.” Simple, southern, home-cooked food sounds pretty great to us, too!
Hungry for more? Here are 50 food facts you never knew about US Presidents.
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