The Queen is adored by millions around the world, but little is known about her quirks and habits behind closed doors. Photo / Getty
The Queen is adored by millions around the world, but little is known about her quirks and habits behind closed doors. Photo / Getty
The Queen is adored by millions around the world, but little is known about her quirks and habits behind closed doors.
That's until now, thanks to former royal chef Darren McGrady - who has given some rather hilarious insights into the Queen's interesting eating habits and favourite food.
In a recent interview, the former chef and author of Eating Royally revealed the Queen's bizarre way she eats fruit and how her dogs used to get only the best food from the kitchen.
FRUIT HABITS
According to McGrady, one of the Queen's strangest habits is how she eats bananas.
The former royal chef noted there was "no eating like a monkey at Buckingham Palace", saying the Queen cuts the top and bottom off her bananas, slices the skin off length-ways and chops them up into small pieces before eating them with a fork.
Her Majesty also eats pears like a boiled egg, by cutting the top off and scooping the inside out with a spoon.
According to McGrady, the Queen avoids potatoes, pasta and starchy foods unless it's for a special occasion.
Instead, her go-to meals are grilled fish or chicken with two types of vegetables.
GARLIC IS TABOO
In a separate interview with the Daily Mail, he revealed her majesty avoids garlic and only eats meat a particular way.
"We can never serve anything with garlic or too much onion. We also couldn't serve meat that was rare, as she liked her meat more well done.
"We could never serve garlic to the Queen but Prince Philip loved it. If we were at Balmoral and she was out, we'd slather his steak in garlic. But when she was at the table, there was no garlic at all. She was very Victorian and believed when she was brought up that you don't eat garlic – because if you were holding an audience the next day, you didn't want to be breathing garlic. It was seen as anti-social."
THE QUEEN'S WAY OR THE HIGHWAY
Her Majesty also eats pears like boiled eggs by cutting the top off and scooping the inside out with a spoon. Photo / Getty
The Queen also must approve of every recipe and menu and puts a line through everything she doesn't want to be included.
Her Majesty is a fan of simple foods, and will send back any meal that has recipe variances in it.
"The Queen was like many elderly ladies in the sense that they like things the way they are, all the time," McGrady explained. "They don't like change."
McGrady explained the Queen takes a hands-on approach with the menu and isn't afraid to veto dishes, especially if they're out of season.
While she loves strawberries, apparently it's not a good idea to serve them up to Her Majesty in winter.
"You can send strawberries every day to The Queen during summer at Balmoral and she'll never say a word. Try including strawberries on the menu in January and she'll scrub out the line and say don't dare send me genetically modified strawberries. She absolutely does eat seasonal," McGrady said.
EVEN HER PETS HAD STANDARDS
When you're a pet of the royal family, you can also demand a high standard from the official royal chefs.
According to McGrady, even the Queen's pets eat like royalty.
Talking to Recipes Plus, the former royal chef recalled how he had mistaken the horses' food for the Queen's.
One morning, the head chef called McGrady in for the special task of preparing carrots for her Majesty.
He was instructed to peel three carrots, chop them finger-length and trim the edges so they are perfectly tidy before placing them into a small bag.
"She really likes her carrots, doesn't she?" McGrady recalls asking the head chef. "He then replied, 'No, they are not for the Queen but for her horse'. That was my first job, cooking for The Queen's horse."
