Queen will attend Cenotaph for Remembrance Sunday

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Darren McGrady, who worked as a royal chef for 15 years, spoke about a trick he sometimes used to get the Queen to opt for a pudding loved by late Princess Diana. Mr McGrady took to his popular YouTube channel to speak about Spencer, the latest portrayal on the big screen of the Princess of Wales.

While discussing what was true and what about life at court in the early 1990s had been misrepresented in the film, in which actor Sean Harris plays the chef, Mr McGrady revealed he had to present two daily menu options past the monarch during his time at her service.

And when Princess Diana was visiting, he would make sure to add the princess’ favourite pudding alongside one Her Majesty didn’t particularly enjoy.

This would make the Queen choose Diana’s favourite – the Bread and Butter Creme souffle.

Mr McGrady said: “I always suggested two puddings for the menu – Diana’s favourite and one the Queen didn’t like so I knew the Queen would pick the Bread and Butter Creme souffle.

“It worked every time and the Princess got it whenever she visited the Queen.”

Moreover, Mr McGrady recalled affectionately how Princess Diana would go by the kitchen after her meal with the sovereign to grab another portion of the treat.

He said: “When the platter came back to the kitchen I had to fight off the chefs from digging in and I’d put it into the warmer and wait.

“I knew the Princess would come down to the kitchen in minutes. 

“She was too scared to ask for seconds in front of the Queen.

“She’d sit down on the kitchen counter and chat and eat.”

Mr McGrady joined the royal kitchen at the service of the Queen and Prince Philip in 1982.

In 1993, he moved to Kensington Palace and cooked meals for Princess Diana, Prince Charles and their children Harry and William.

He remained at Princess Diana’s service until her untimely death in 1997.

Mr McGrady had previously spoken about having the Princess of Wales as his boss and how less formal life was at Kensington Palace when compared to the Queen’s residence in London.

He told the Huffington Post: “If she was on her own for lunch, she’d actually come and eat in the kitchen on the countertop.

“I’d make a tray for her and I’d just be tidying up the kitchen and things as we were chatting.”

Mr McGrady recalled a time when Diana made coffee for herself not to bother the busy chef.

He remembered her saying: “Darren, I need a coffee — oh, you’re busy. I’ll make it. Do you want one?”

While Mr McGrady acknowledged there is a tight protocol in place at Buckingham Palace, he recalled the Royal Family is much more relaxed when they spend time at Balmoral, the Queen’s Scottish estate.

He told Marie Claire: “People always say, ‘Oh, the Queen must eat off gold plates with gold knives and forks.’

“Yes, sometimes… but at Balmoral she’d eat fruit from a plastic yellow Tupperware container.”

Members of the Royal Family have also conceded the Queen lives more relaxed days when she is in Scotland, with Princess Eugenie previously saying the sovereign is “the most happy there”.

And royal author Juliet Rieden claimed the monarch enjoys helping with everyday tasks such as doing the washing up while at Balmoral.

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