Ex-Royals chef reveals: “The Queen is not a foodie”

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Queen Elizabeth II
“The Queen is not a foodie”: Ex-Chef of the Royals reveals what is served in the palace

Queen Elizabeth II at Windsor Castle in late April.

© Dominic Lipinski/ empics / Picture Alliance

05/08/2022, 20:14

2 min reading time

What happens behind the walls of Buckingham Palace stays behind the walls of Buckingham Palace – mostly. But now an ex-employee has chatted out of the box and told what’s on the Royals’ plates.

Cheese bread is good bread, as Helge Schneider once knew. But does the British Queen know that? It is hard to imagine that Queen Elizabeth spreads a sandwich for supper. One imagines her at the end of a long table, carving up a piece of pheasant meat with polished silver cutlery, while violin players nonchalantly offer her a little serenade. Darren McGrady knows what it’s really like at the royal table. The Briton has cooked in the kitchens of Buckingham Palace for 15 years. He was the personal chef to the Queen, Prince Philip, Princess Diana, and Princes William and Harry. He knows the culinary preferences of the blue-blooded breeds and doesn’t hold back on it. In a YouTube video he has now revealed what the Queen is smeared on her bread.

According to this, the British head of state has a weakness for crab on toast. But not just any crabs. “Small brown Morecambe prawns marinated and cooked in this secret herb butter,” says McGrady. He says the Queen ate these on warm toast. “When you apply it, the butter melts and you get these beautiful shrimp,” he describes.

50th Birthday Gift - Sir John Smyth and Queen Elizabeth II - Windsor Castle. Sir John Smyth (l), President of the Victoria Cross and George Cross Associations, presents a 50th birthday gift to Queen Elizabeth II. URN:29460661

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The Queen likes it bold

And: Queen Elizabeth II likes it local. She often ate game meat that was hunted on her own land and vegetables that were grown in her own gardens. Including parsnips, carrots and potatoes. McGrady quickly learned in the palace kitchens that all dishes served to the Queen were rich, full of cream, butter and fat. “Calories didn’t really matter,” he recalls. Traditional French cuisine was cooked in the palace.

Despite this, according to McGrady, the Queen was not a foodie: “I quickly learned that she eats to live and does not live to eat.” Therefore, the menus would have changed little over time. The same few dishes were served over and over again. The chef recalls that it was difficult to make new recipes appealing to her.

dishes with history

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Carpaccio A classic of Italian cuisine: air-dried raw beef that is sliced ​​wafer-thin when frozen. The origin story is quite amusing: It is said to have been invented in 1950 in Harry's Bar in Venice. The owner of the bar Giuseppe Cipriani served his regular customer Contessa Amalia Nani Mocenigo the raw meat because her doctor had advised her not to eat cooked meat. Cipriani named the dish after the famous Venetian painter Vittore Carpaccio, famous for his bright red and white tones. Cipriani drizzled the beef with his house sauce, which he made from olive oil, egg yolks, white wine vinegar, powdered mustard, Worcestershire sauce, lemon juice, salt, pepper, and enough milk to leave it thick enough to stick to a spoon. Today, carpaccio is often served with olive oil and lemon or with a vinaigrette. Parmesan shavings or slices of truffle go well with it.

Carpaccio
A classic of Italian cuisine: air-dried raw beef that is sliced ​​wafer-thin when frozen. The origin story is quite amusing: It is said to have been invented in 1950 in Harry’s Bar in Venice. The owner of the bar Giuseppe Cipriani served his regular customer Contessa Amalia Nani Mocenigo the raw meat because her doctor had advised her not to eat cooked meat. Cipriani named the dish after the famous Venetian painter Vittore Carpaccio, famous for his bright red and white tones.
Cipriani drizzled the beef with his house sauce, which he made using olive oil, egg yolks, white wine vinegar, powdered mustard, Worcestershire sauce, lemon juice, salt, pepper, and just enough milk to leave it thick enough to stick to a spoon.
Today, carpaccio is often served with olive oil and lemon or with a vinaigrette. Parmesan shavings or slices of truffle go well with it.

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Attacked by the Queen’s corgis

Knowing what the Queen likes and doesn’t like, adapting dishes accordingly, that’s the job of a private chef. Just something completely different than cooking in hotels or restaurants, as McGrady knows how to report. “Buckingham Palace was more about cooking dishes that the Queen likes,” said the ex-Royals chef. “You could make a beef stroganoff and if she didn’t like peppers, all of a sudden the beef stroganoff became a dish without peppers.” You only cook for one person and not for many different people.

Incidentally, McGrady has never met the Queen personally in all these years. Only once, it almost came to that, as he also says in a video. That was at the beginning of his work in the castle. At that time, an elderly lady with many dogs came towards him. It took him a long time to understand that the elderly lady was the queen and that the many dogs were her corgis. In his head, he says, thoughts raced: What are the rules of conduct? How is she greeted? Is a bow necessary? But even before personal contact had actually taken place, the dogs rushed at him. Fearing an attack, he grabbed his feet and ran away. “I heard the Queen laugh,” McGrady said. “Is not that incredible?”

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