One’s lovin’ it: Queen owns very own McDonalds – and you can visit
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The Queen owns a £13billion property empire that includes six royal residences. The monarch is also the legitimate owner of vast areas at which British people like to spend their spare times.
Among them, there is a McDonald’s branch located some 80 miles outside of London.
The royal fast food branch can be found at the Banbury Gateway Shopping Park, near Oxfordshire.
Despite being technically owned by the Queen, this McDonald’s branch doesn’t present any royal feature which makes it stand out from other fast food restaurants of the same brand.
However, it presents a few luxurious details, including leather sofas, digital menu boards, free Samsung tablets and Eames chairs.
The Queen, who owns the land on which this restaurant sits, also owns the nearby Primark, Next and Starbucks.
The monarch is one of the most important land owners in the country.
She owns half of the coastline in the UK as well as London’s Trafalgar Square, home to Nelson’s column and the National Gallery.
The Queen is the current owner of the Crown Estate, a collection of lands and holdings in the territories of England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
The Crown Estate can’t be considered government property or part of the monarch’s private estate, which include the Sandringham and Balmoral estates.
This means the Queen doesn’t exercise a real power on the Crown Estate.
This extensive property is widely overseen by a semi-independent, incorporated public body headed by the Crown Estate Commissioners.
The current chairman of the Commissioners is Robin Budenberg.
The Queen can also boast two private cash machines, situated in the basement of Buckingham Palace.
These ATMs are run by bank Coutts and are meant to be used only by members of the Royal Family.
Despite owning a McDonalds, the Queen is known to be a fan of shellfish and chocolate rather than hamburgers.
Her former chef Darren McGrady recently revealed one of the Queen’s favourite meals consists in Morecambe Bay Shrimps.
Appearing in a Q&A video on his Youtube channel, the chef said: “The Queen does love Morecambe Bay Potted Shrimps!
“If you don’t know what they are, they are little brown shrimps, obviously harvested from Morecambe Bay, and they are cooked and marinated in this secret spicy butter.
“The Queen, she would have it with warm toasts.”
The monarch, the chef said in another interview, also has a sweet tooth.
He said: “She likes chocolate, but only dark chocolate, the darker the better.
“She’s not a big fan of milk or white chocolate.”
Chef McGrady worked for the Queen between 1982 and 1993.
He later moved to Kensington Palace, when he cooked for Princess Diana and her children until the Princess of Wales’ death.
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