Although the royals can afford personal chefs to whip up the very best meals, they don’t rely on professional help all the time.
The Princess of Wales and Duchess of Sussex are known to be highly nifty in the kitchen, and Michelle Thole, from the Keeping Up With The Windsors podcast, says: “We’ve seen many times that they are both into cooking. It’s not necessarily about dishing up cordon bleu-style food, just regular stuff for their families. It means we relate to them more.”
Princes William and Harry are also willing to pitch in, and Harry presented Meghan with a three-course dinner for her 39th birthday in 2019.
William admits his repertoire is limited however, and during a visit to a young carers’ centre in January, he told chef Kevin Muhammad: “I do a bit of cooking, not much though. Catherine’s very good. I do a mean steak. My sauces come out quite dry or lumpy – I’ve got to work on those!”
His speciality dishes include Spaghetti Bolognese, which he would make for Kate when they were students together in St Andrews.
“In university days he used to cook all sorts of meals,” Kate told Dame Mary Berry on 2019 TV cooking show, A Berry Royal Christmas. “I think that’s when he was trying to impress me, Mary!”
The princess also revealed on the show that Prince Louis was a budding cook even as a tiny tot. “She said how one of Louis’ first words was ‘Mary’ because they have all her cookbooks at eye-level on her kitchen shelf,” adds Michelle.
Former Bake Off judge Mary was certainly impressed by what she witnessed, saying: “Kate is a remarkable, enthusiastic cook – she’ll have a go at anything.” Bravely, Kate put herself to the test when she spent her first royal Christmas at Sandringham.
Struggling to think of what to buy for Queen Elizabeth II, she decided to give Her Majesty a pot of homemade chutney. “I was thinking, ‘Gosh, what should I give her?’ I thought back to what would I give my own grandparents and I thought, ‘I’ll make her something,’ which could have gone horribly wrong, but I decided to make my granny’s recipe for chutney.”
Kate has owned up to the occasional culinary disaster, and while making spinach soup on one occasion she forgot to put a lid on the blender and ended up with green sludge splattered across the ceiling! She is always keen to involve her children in cooking, and Michelle says: “During lockdown, we saw her baking cakes with the children, which was a nice thing to do in those uncertain times.”
Last year, they also made cupcakes for a Platinum Jubilee street party, with pictures going down a storm on Instagram. Kate also loves baking birthday cakes, saying: “It’s become a bit of a tradition that I stay up ‘til midnight with ridiculous amounts of cake mix and icing and I make far too much. But I love it.”
On a visit to the Aga Khan Centre in London in October 2019, Kate revealed another speciality is homemade curry, despite the challenge of satisfying different tastes. “It’s so hard cooking curry with the family,” she said.
“The children have a portion with no spice, William’s is medium and I quite like it hot.” Other dinners she might rustle up include fish with a mushroom sauce, pasta or roast chicken – which is William’s favourite. The same dish is also a go-to for Harry, who famously proposed to Meghan in November 2017 while they were roasting a chicken.
Meghan is said to cook most days and her signature dishes include lamb tagine, rustic soups and slow-cooked food like chicken adobo, a Filipino-style stew. For a lighter meal, she opts for veggie quinoa or pasta with a sauce made from courgettes cooked for up to five hours, which she describes as a “filthy, sexy mush.”
For breakfast she might serve Prince Archie’s favourite dish of waffles made with organic ingredients, especially after the late Queen gave them a waffle iron. Meghan also likes baking and is known for whizzing up chocolate chip and ginger banana bread and lemon olive oil cake with home-grown lemons.
For the King and Queen, fresh ingredients from the Highgrove and Clarence House gardens are prominent on the menu, as Camilla said last year: “Vegetables from the garden: kale, purple sprouting broccoli, carrots, courgettes, and lots of peas and beans because they freeze so well. “I love the vegetable garden, and summer in particular.”
However, she admitted not always getting it right in the kitchen, saying: “I could fill a book with all my cooking disasters. I’m not a natural baker, to say the least.” Meanwhile, Charles has revealed an unusual culinary skill for making pheasant crumble pie.
“I got this recipe from someone I know. It is delicious,” he said. “I invented a grouse one recently: coq au vin with grouse, as well as moussaka with grouse – it doesn’t always have to be lamb. In other words, groussaka.”
Hearty family food is also enjoyed by Zara Tindall and husband Mike, who has praised her cooking and once shared a photo of a cheeseburger meal with all the trimmings. “She doesn’t have a speciality, she’s very good generally and can do a lot of fancy stuff,” Mike said.
In summers gone by, the royals would always gather at Balmoral for big family get-togethers, featuring relaxed picnics and barbecues.
The late Prince Philip would be in charge, and according to former royal chef Darren McGrady, he oversaw the entire menu.
“He’d come down to the kitchens and discuss what food we’d have: ‘Do we have any salmon that any of the family have caught? The Queen’s been picking strawberries with Princess Margaret, let’s have those for dinner,’” recalled Darren.
“Prince Philip was an amazing chef. He’d teach me things and he was so knowledgeable. The Queen no, not so much.” That verdict was backed up by Balmoral housekeeper Sheena Stuart, who once said, “The Duke, he cooks, the Queen sets up the table.”
Philip’s skills weren’t limited to barbecues. As a Hairy Bikers fan, he loved watching TV cookery programmes and would often rustle up late night snacks for himself and the Queen. Staple dishes included scrambled eggs, mushrooms and bacon and omelettes.
When travelling, Philip always insisted on taking his electric, glass-lidded frying pan too. Since his death in April 2021, the man in charge of the barbecue tongs has been Prince Edward, who received his father’s title of Duke of Edinburgh in March this year.
According to Edward’s wife Sophie he’s a pro in the role, but Philip apparently never let Charles near the bangers and burgers. “If I ever tried to do it I could never get the fire to light or something ghastly so (he’d say) ‘Go away!’” the King has admitted.
Princess Anne may have tended the grill occasionally, but she has reportedly never been a foodie. “The cook will leave snacks for the princess to graze on,” an insider has said. “Strong cheeses, pâté and cooked hams hanging from the cold interior walls of the refrigerated room are in endless supply.”
Anne is said to find cooking for guests a waste of time, and in the past has even opted to serve tinned pies – “whichever she could defrost the quickest” – along with boiled potatoes and greens. “After all, one wants everyone out of the house by 9.15pm at the latest,” she once quipped. “For pudding, I pass them a choc ice to eat in the car.”
Well, at least that saves on the washing up!
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