You would think in their privileged position, members of royalty might choose caviar and Champagne as their preferred foods every time, but the truth is much more unexpected. From humble smoothies to retro desserts and kippers for breakfast, the royals favourite food and drink might take you by surprise. In time for the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, we reveal the favourite foods of royals both past and present.
The Queen is a chocoholic – she loves chocolate mousse and chocolate biscuit cake – and the darker the chocolate the better. Afternoon tea with Earl Grey tea is often taken and she doesn’t condone food waste either, regularly eating leftovers. While the Queen prefers to eat produce from royal estates, sausages and fish (especially sole and poached salmon) are her favourites. Although mineral water is her drink of choice, the Queen has enjoyed Dubonnet fortified wine and gin martinis with a lemon twist.
When the Prince was a young boy, he and his older brother Prince William were fans of comforting puddings like jam roly-poly – a hearty jelly and sponge dessert – and summer pudding, which is a dessert dish of berries set in a bread mould. Ex-royal chef Darren McGrady said Harry also loves a cottage pie with minced beef and mash potatoes.
As a self-proclaimed “foodie”, Markle is no stranger to flavour and diversity in her diet. Omid Scobie and Carolyn Durand, the co-authors of Markle's royal biography Finding Freedom, have revealed she enjoys steel-cut oats for breakfast with almond or soy milk, bananas and agave syrup, while she’s also a big fan of an omelette with cheese and fresh herbs and a slice of toast. Markle also indulges in a daily green juice, which she says gives her an energy boost.
William and his wife Kate have a particular penchant for popcorn as both have been seen eating it at events, but it’s lasagne and roast chicken that the future King of England has a soft spot for. McGrady said the roast chicken he used to prepare for him at the palace had a crispy skin which made it perfect. The Prince isn’t keen on anything too spicy though, unlike his wife.
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The Duchess of Cambridge is a healthy eater, although she has a weakness for Indian and spicy food. However, she’s very disciplined, forgoing tasty sweet treats for healthy berry smoothies or her special green blend, which includes kale, matcha, spinach, coriander and blueberries. She is also very handy in the kitchen, cooking for her family, and is known to make her very own jam and preserves. Word has it she owns a sausage maker too.
Rumour has it that the Queen’s late consort was a bit of a foodie, and although the palace hasn’t disclosed his preferred dishes, McGrady states one of the Duke of Edinburgh’s favourites was Gaelic steaks. McGrady used to include a touch of umami-rich Marmite on them.
The Prince of Wales is known for his love of organic and sustainable produce. He eats game, fish and homegrown fruit and vegetables from the royal estates but avoids foods such as courgettes and garlic to avoid embarrassment at public engagements. The Prince is also known to enjoy a whisky or two.
Although the People’s Princess was known for eating healthy – avoiding carbs and red meat and sticking to poached chicken and stuffed bell peppers – her personal chef McGrady wrote that she had a sweet tooth too. Diana especially loved popular British dessert bread and butter pudding and was also partial to a crème brûlée.
Camilla’s son Tom, who is a restaurant critic, says his mother is “a good cook, but it wasn’t about haute cuisine for her, [but] simple food using fresh ingredients, often from our garden”. It’s still the same for the Duchess of Cornwall today, according to Darren Blunden, executive chef at Dumfries House, stating that she prefers classic English food and locally-sourced meat. Camilla’s idea of a treat is lavender shortbread or violet creams.
Not much is known about Princess Anne’s eating habits – she is seen to show restraint like many royals who dine out regularly. However, the Princess does have a fondness for oily fish kippers judging by a complimentary letter she sent to Fortune Kippers, a 140-year-old company based in Yorkshire, England. Her taste for the salty fish could be influenced by the Queen, who regularly enjoys kippers for breakfast.
Britain's Queen from 1837-1901 was known to love food and ate quickly. The monarch ate four meals per day – breakfast, lunch, tea and supper – and consumed a meat-heavy diet, which was common among the wealthy in the Victorian age. The Queen was also partial to Victoria sponge cake, chocolate and ice cream, and a glass of claret topped up with whisky.
The famous Tudor King of England had a notorious appetite. Royal feasts of the day were lavish and heavy on the meat and Henry certainly ate his fill. However, according to food writer Bee Wilson, the six-times-married King loved fruit, especially apricots, quince marmalade and orange pies, as well as vegetables such as artichokes. He also had a penchant for baked lampreys (a type of fish) and cream of almonds.
Henry VIII’s wife Anne Boleyn, who was beheaded in 1536, was fond of fruit, especially damsons, pears, plums and strawberries. It’s also been suggested by baker Dean Martin, who runs Newens Tea House in Kew, England, that the couple shared a liking for maid of honour tarts – tasty English custard tarts that are best served warm – as Anne was supposedly eating one when she first met the King.
Henry VIII’s daughter, Queen Elizabeth I of England, was a sucker for sugar, which in Tudor times was the preserve of the very rich. The Virgin Queen favoured a kind of marzipan called marchpane and dried fruits known as suckets, but her teeth suffered as a result, becoming black and rotten in her older years.
Marie Antoinette had simple culinary tastes, although she loved hot chocolate. In private, she opted for simple Austrian bread that reminded her of home, broths, boiled poultry, pure water and lemonade, and she didn’t drink copiously, preferring the very opposite of the sumptuous cuisine on offer at court.
The 18th-century Russian Queen liked sturgeon and Champagne soup – a very expensive and lavish dish that is representative of the really unrestrained life she led at court. She was also known to like boiled beef with pickles and cutlets made of minced game meat.
The blonde, statuesque Zimbabwean – a one-time Olympic swimmer who married Prince Albert II of Monaco in 2011 – apparently loves lemon chicken with African spices. She stays in shape by eating lots of fish (she’s a pescatarian) and fresh fruits and vegetables, and drinks plenty of water each day.
The American who lived the dream by marrying Prince Rainier III of Monaco ate carefully when she was a Hollywood star, snacking on carrot and celery sticks and dried apricots. She was an early advocate of wholemeal bread and rice and was aware of “the importance of having a well-balanced meal”. However, she is equally at home eating peanut butter sandwiches as she was seen dining at the sumptuous Café de Paris in London’s Piccadilly Circus.
Hussein bin Talal, who was King of Jordan from 1952 until his death in 1999, was partial to a hamburger and French fries, according to a 1985 article about him featured in United Press International (UPI). His American-born fourth wife and widow, Queen Noor, prefers more natural food and is known to eat very little meat.
The Sun King responsible for the Palace of Versailles lived an extravagant life and had a voracious appetite. His second wife Madame de Maintenon is reported to have said that if she consumed half as much in one meal as her husband, she’d be dead in a week. He was partial to oysters and citrus fruit, judging by the size of his orange tree grove, and enjoyed his food spiced – much to the consternation of courtiers with more delicate stomachs.
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The popular Australian commoner, who married a Danish Prince after meeting him in a Sydney pub, is famed for her style and poise. She is said to follow the “Danish diet”, consuming lots of oily fish such as salmon, as well as root vegetables, potatoes and only one type of bread – rye.
The Argentinian-born Dutch queen is rumoured to have a sweet tooth for chocolate mousse and dulce de leche (caramelised milk). She is also said to enjoy hagelslag, a traditional breakfast food in the Netherlands similar to dark chocolate sprinkles which are spread on buttered bread. For her 49th birthday, she also released the recipe for her favourite cookies, Argentinian bake Alfajores.
The charming and progressive Queen Consort of Jordan, Rania Al-Abdullah, is said to follow a macrobiotic diet and is an advocate of healthy living. She’s known to have a fondness for couscous, almonds, walnuts and Mediterranean cuisine, and her treat of choice is dark chocolate.
Although meat makes up a large part of the Spanish diet, the Greek-born wife and Queen Consort of King Juan Carlos I doesn’t eat meat and hasn’t since the Sixties. It’s thought that Queen Sofia does eat fish, however, which makes her pescatarian rather than vegetarian.
Crown Princess Victoria is the female heir to the Swedish throne after a big change to the Act of Succession law which was passed in her country in 1980. In 1996, it was reported that the Princess was suffering from the eating disorder anorexia. She has since recovered and has a passion for healthy eating.