THE QUEEN’S personal chef for 11 years has revealed that never made a trifle for Her Majesty, despite a lemon trifle recipe being crowned as the official Platinum Jubilee dessert.
Darren McGrady said the Queen instead has a fondness for a dessert made with dark chocolate.
“I saw the recipe. What surprised me was that the trifle one, I never served a trifle to the queen in the 11 years that I cooked for her, so that’s interesting,” he told GB News.
“I spent 11 years working for the Queen, rattling pounds at Buckingham Palace, all the royal residences around the world and on the Royal Yacht Britannia, and one thing I can say is the Queen loves chocolate desserts.”
Mr McGrady was personal chef to the Queen as well as Diana, Princess of Wales, Prince William, Prince Harry, and he also cooked for five US presidents.
He spoke about his time with the Queen during Breakfast with Isabel Webster and Stephen Dixon on GB News and provided an exclusive insight into her favourite meals.
When probed on what breakfast the Monarch would be tucking into today Mr McGrady said: “What we do know is that she sticks to a routine. And so she’ll just start with a regular breakfast and cereals and coffee this morning.
“There’s no great big fry up for the busy day ahead. It’s Trooping the Colour, I used to love Trooping when I was there.
“All the chefs used to prepare afternoon tea and then take the leftovers up onto the roof and we’d sunbath and watch the flypast.”
The Royal chef spent years cooking and preparing meals for various Royals, and fondly reminisced an exchange he had with the Queen: “At state banquets you know where there’s over 150 people, lots of pressure, visiting kings, queens presidents, you’ve got to get everything perfect.
“But the most pressure is actually when the Queen’s at somewhere like Wood Farm where she’s been just a few months back. I’ve been to Sandringham when she’s there on her own and you’re cooking for them.
“I remember being up there and she was leaving after a weekend and the kitchen windows were open. And she walked along the footpath and she stopped, looked in the window and said thank you.
“That was a lovely weekend. It doesn’t get any better than that for a royal chef, when the Queen just stops and looks through the kitchen window and says thank you.”
In a previous interview, Mr McGrady said the Queen would receive a red leather-bound book every week, which included a vast selection of menus and recipes which are written in French.
She is due to appear on the balcony of Buckingham Palace for the RAF flyover at 1pm today.
