The inner workings of the royal family are shrouded in secrecy, but one figure from within the walls of the royal castles is now dishing on some truly saucy secrets. Former royal chef Darren McGrady has seen it all, and the proof is in the pudding.
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00:00The inner workings of the royal family are shrouded in secrecy, but one figure from within
00:04the walls of the royal castles is now dishing on some truly saucy secrets.
00:09Former royal chef Dara McGrady has seen it all, and the proof is in the pudding.
00:13Balmoral Castle, the Scottish home of the royal family where they frequently stayed
00:17for summer holidays, was the favorite residence of the late Queen Elizabeth II.
00:21The family used the space as a retreat where they could enjoy the outdoors and escape from
00:25the bustle of London.
00:26In the documentary Our Queen at 90, Princess Eugenie said of her grandmother at Balmoral,
00:30"...I think Granny is the most happy there, and I think she really, really loves the Highlands."
00:37The queen died at age 96 on September 8, 2022, while at Balmoral, solidifying the castle
00:43as a major landmark in her life.
00:45Former royal chef Dara McGrady expanded on the royal family's love of Balmoral while
00:49in conversation with Marie Claire.
00:51He explained,
00:52"...Balmoral is where the royal family really let their hair down.
00:55They relax and have fun.
00:56You see them all the time.
00:57At Buckingham Palace, the queen was too busy and the kitchen's too far from her apartment,
01:01so we never saw her.
01:02At Balmoral, we'd see her all the time.
01:04They were much more relaxed and had more free time."
01:07Darren McGrady knew some of the more intimate details about members of the royal family
01:11because of his place in the kitchen.
01:12For instance, he knew that the late Princess Diana struggled with an eating disorder.
01:17Diana battled bulimia for years, something she spoke about via confessional tapes in
01:21Andrew Morton's biography, Diana, Her True Story.
01:23She said,
01:24"...The bulimia started the week after we got engaged and would take nearly a decade
01:28to overcome."
01:29McGrady was actually someone who got involved once Diana overcame bulimia, as he would then
01:33cook especially healthy food for her.
01:35He told Marie Claire,
01:36"...One day she said to me, Darren, I want you to take care of all the fats, and I'll
01:39take care of the carbs at the gym.
01:41We changed everything.
01:42I threw out my Buckingham Palace recipe book and got into healthy eating.
01:46When she was at Buckingham Palace, her bulimia was definitely a hidden thing."
01:49He went into detail about Diana's food preferences, saying,
01:52"...We didn't know about it.
01:54It wasn't until she confronted it and everyone put two and two together that she started
01:57really healthy eating.
01:59She liked dishes like stuffed bell peppers and stuffed eggplant.
02:02She loved fish."
02:03McGrady added that Diana disliked eating red meat, and on the rare occasions she did eat
02:08meat for public-facing events, she chose lamb.
02:11While the royal family dressed up when an event called for glitz, they could also be
02:14extremely casual.
02:16This was certainly the case with the late Prince Philip, who once looked so casual that
02:19chef Darren McGrady mistook him for the Balmoral gardener.
02:23McGrady told Marie Claire,
02:24"...He came into the kitchen and I thought he was the gardener.
02:26He was this old man in tatty old clothes.
02:29He had a jumper on with the arms hanging out at the elbows, all tattered and worn.
02:32I looked and thought, oh, it's the gardener.
02:34It was only after I looked closely that I saw it was Prince Philip."
02:37Part of the reason that Philip dressed so casually, especially at Balmoral, was because
02:41he loved cooking on the grill outside.
02:44McGrady recalled the ways in which the prince incorporated local foods into the family meals.
02:48He explained,
02:49"...Philip would cook out on the grill.
02:50He'd come down to the kitchens and discuss what food we'd have.
02:53Do we have any salmon that any of the family have caught?
02:55The queen's been picking strawberries with Princess Margaret.
02:58Let's have those for dinner."
02:59In spare, Prince Harry also recalled Philip on the grill at Balmoral.
03:03"...Grandpa, who'd set off half an hour before us, was already tending his grill at the back
03:07of the lodge.
03:08He stood amid a thick cloud of smoke, tears streaming from his eyes.
03:12He wore a flat cap, which he took off now and then to mop his brow or smack a fly."
03:16There are several stories of the late Princess Diana taking her sons out on outings to give
03:21them a more normal taste of life.
03:23They rode London buses together, and she took them to Thorpe Park, an amusement park outside
03:27of London, where they had to line up the rides the same as everyone else.
03:30But she also brought normalcy to Princes William and Harry's lives through food, namely trips
03:35to McDonald's.
03:36Chef Darren McGrady told Marie Claire that he tried to persuade Diana away from the fast
03:40food joint, telling her that he could make a better version of the menu.
03:43"...When it comes to burgers, there's burgers and there's burgers."
03:47But Diana wanted the boys to have that experience.
03:50The chef explained,
03:51"...I remember the princess came into the kitchen one day and said, cancel lunch for
03:54the boys, I'm taking them out, we're going to McDonald's.
03:57And I said, oh my God, Your Royal Highness, I can do that, I can do burgers.
04:01And she said, no, it's the toy they want.
04:03Yeah, the boys loved McDonald's, and going out to pizza and having potato skins, sort
04:07of the American foods.
04:08They were royal princes but had children's palates.
04:11He said that they'd come home and watch Blind Date, a British reality show.
04:15They'd allegedly holler at the TV and laugh while they ate fast food.
04:18Sounds like some great memories.
04:20The Corgis belonging to the late Queen Elizabeth really were everything and had free reign
04:24over palace grounds.
04:26In fact, the Corgis almost had a little too much license, as they once happened to chase
04:30Chef Darren McGrady.
04:32He told Marie Claire,
04:33"...I saw this lady walking dogs and as I got closer, I realized it was the Queen.
04:37I thought, this is so exciting, I'm going to speak to the Queen.
04:40I remembered thinking, you've got to say Your Majesty first, after that it's ma'am.
04:43But the dogs saw me and started barking, and all 12 Corgis started running after me, so
04:48I turned around and started running the other way.
04:50I could hear the Queen laughing, she thought it was hilarious."
04:53When he wasn't being chased, part of McGrady's culinary duties included feeding these royal
04:57canines.
04:58And their menu was no less involved than that belonging to the royal family.
05:02McGrady told Hello!
05:03that the Corgis' menu rotated between beef, chicken, lamb, and rabbit.
05:07He had to carefully dice the meat after cooking it to ensure that there were no bones, and
05:11then the Queen herself would feed them.
05:13There were elements of Queen Elizabeth's life that were lavish, to be sure, but she was
05:17a surprisingly frugal person, too.
05:19Darren McGrady had previously worked at the Savoy, a swanky hotel in London, before getting
05:23hired to cook for the royal family.
05:25However, cooking for the Queen could be unexpectedly low-key.
05:29McGrady told Coffee Friend,
05:30When I moved from the Savoy to Buckingham Palace, I thought every day would be smoked
05:34salmon, foie gras, caviar, but no.
05:36The Queen is very, very frugal, and it's simple and plain foods.
05:40That comes from her early years of growing up during the war.
05:43When the royal chefs were cooking for big events, it was as sumptuous as we'd expect.
05:46But the Queen herself kept things very simple, and didn't like to waste.
05:50McGrady spoke at the West Coast Women's Show and shared how the Queen would squeeze a lemon
05:54wedge and send it back to the kitchen to be used again.
05:57McGrady said,
05:58She'd make a Sunday roast of beef or venison or chicken if there was anything left.
06:01She would ask that it be used for pie.
06:03It's from growing up during the war.
06:05As noted, Queen Elizabeth famously exhibited wartime frugality and didn't promote excess,
06:10even with food.
06:11McGrady told the Daily Mail,
06:12She's not a foodie at all.
06:14She eats to live.
06:15It's Prince Philip that lives to eat.
06:16He loves food.
06:17He's interested in food.
06:18He wants to know where it comes from.
06:20The Queen, not so much.
06:21However, there was one major exception for the Queen.
06:24She couldn't resist chocolate.
06:26McGrady told the Food Network that this was her major food vice, explaining,
06:29The Queen's a chocoholic.
06:31Loves anything chocolate on the menu.
06:32In fact, when making menus for the Queen's approval, McGrady could pretty much guarantee
06:36that she'd select the desserts with chocolate in them over anything else.
06:40McGrady later spoke about her choices in cakes which were, unsurprisingly, also chocolate-centered.
06:45Quite a shocker, huh?
06:47When it came to her favorite kind of chocolate, McGrady explained that dark chocolate was
06:50her absolute favorite, claiming that the Queen would enjoy anything dark chocolate and that
06:54her personal dessert philosophy was,
06:56The darker the better.
06:58In fact, the Queen even kept little boxes of chocolate in her bedroom in case she wanted
07:02a late-night sweet.
07:04Queen Elizabeth didn't like it when the royal kitchens cooked with garlic.
07:07In fact, chef Darren McGrady told the Daily Mail that the Queen completely banned it from
07:11the kitchen when she would be present for meals.
07:13Hilariously, though, it wasn't a unanimous opinion in her marriage.
07:17McGrady said,
07:18We could never serve garlic to the Queen, but Prince Philip loved it.
07:20If we were at Balmoral and she was out, we'd slather his steak in garlic, but when she
07:24was at the table, there was no garlic at all.
07:26She was very Victorian and believed when she was brought up that you don't eat garlic,
07:30because if you were holding an audience the next day, you didn't want to be breathing
07:33garlic.
07:34It was seen as antisocial.
07:35In fact, McGrady noted that the Queen didn't like any food that was too spicy or left too
07:40pungent of an aroma after meals.
07:42She liked simplicity, and McGrady noted that she actually preferred plain food.
07:46Tea?
07:47Oh, yes, please.
07:54While we would expect nothing less, afternoon tea was an absolute must for the late Queen
07:57Elizabeth.
07:58While afternoon tea might not strike one as a meal, per se, chef Darren McGrady told Coffee
08:03Friend that afternoon tea was by far the Queen's favorite meal.
08:06He explained,
08:07The Queen had afternoon tea every day, wherever she was in the world, if we were at Buckingham
08:11Palace and she was on her own for tea, or whether she had Prince William come and join
08:14her, or whether she had a garden party for 6,000 people, or even if she was on the Royal
08:18Britannia in Australia.
08:20McGrady said that the Queen's tea was an absolutely essential part of her day.
08:24British afternoon tea is typically served between 3 and 4 p.m., with a few sandwiches
08:28and some small cakes.
08:29When describing what accompanied the Queen's tea, McGrady said that there were usually
08:33two kinds of sandwiches with scones.
08:35I always keep one for emergencies.
08:38So do I. I keep mine in here.
08:43The flavor of the scones changed daily.
08:45There would also be small tea cakes, anything from a small chocolate eclair to a larger
08:49cake from which the Queen could cut slices.
08:51Per her love of chocolate, a chocolate ganache cake was a likely sight during her tea.
08:57Queen Elizabeth's mother
08:58The Queen Mother was notoriously late for everything.
09:01Typically, the Queen Mother had her own residency in London, Clarence House, so her tardy nature
09:05was only a problem for herself.
09:07But when she was vacationing with the rest of the royal family, especially at Balmoral
09:11Castle, her tardiness became a family problem.
09:13The family couldn't start dinner without the Queen Mother there, and with the chefs working
09:17under a schedule, it was imperative that meals be served on time.
09:20So the royal family came up with a trick.
09:22Chef Darren McGrady told Marie Claire,
09:24"'Dinner was at 8.30 in Balmoral, when Her Majesty the Queen Mother was in attendance.
09:28They used to tell her that dinner was at 8.15, and she'd be the last one down.
09:32They told everyone else 8.30, because they knew she'd be late."
09:35Hey, a few little lies never hurt anyone.
09:38If you need help with an eating disorder or know someone who does, help is available.
09:43Visit the National Eating Disorders Association website or contact NIDA's live helpline at
09:471-800-931-2237.
09:50You can also receive 24-7 crisis support via text.
09:54Send NIDA to 741741.