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Marie Claire
Marie Claire
Lifestyle
Amy Mackelden

One Royal Was Partial to a "Plain Baked Potato With a Scoop of Caviar" for Dinner, Says Former Royal Employee

A baked potato with caviar alongside Royal Family members joining Queen Elizabeth II on the Buckingham balcony, including Princess Diana in a white floral dress and matching hat and King Charles.

The Royal Family has access to just about any food product they could ever desire. However, many royals have been known to enjoy "down-to-earth" meals and bizarre snacks, alongside healthy dishes. And according to a former royal employee, Princess Diana was partial to eating a baked potato with a rather unusual topping.

In his book A Royal Duty, former royal butler Paul Burrell discussed some of the meals he'd serve to Princess Diana when he worked for her.

"If she had been out...I would make her a cup of her favorite ginger root tea," Burrell shared.

The royal butler continued, "Dinner would be grilled trout or a pasta dish; or a plain [baked] potato with a scoop of caviar, served with a vinaigrette dressing."

As for how Diana would receive her dinner, Burrell explained, "It was often a solitary meal, served on a wheeled wooden trolley that I pushed into the sitting room before the striped sofa where the princess sat in her white toweling robe."

"Dinner would be grilled trout or a pasta dish; or a plain [baked] potato with a scoop of caviar, served with a vinaigrette dressing." (Image credit: Getty Images)

Burrell continued, "I had already pulled the television out of its cabinet at the bottom of the bookcase and into position. Evenings were the loneliest, quietest times for the princess. The chef had gone. Her dresser had gone."

With everyone else having left for the day, Burrell allegedly spent time becoming friends with Diana.

"At the day's end, as the princess wound down from an energetic, engagements-filled morning and afternoon, I got to know her better on a personal level," the former butler said.

"It was often a solitary meal, served on a wheeled wooden trolley." (Image credit: Getty Images)

He continued, "She was relaxed, not fraught, and talkative. It became clear, as I wheeled in her two-course evening meal, that with William and Harry at boarding school she preferred not to be left alone. 'Stay a while,' she said, more times than I can remember."

Paul Burrell 'A Royal Duty' Paul Burrell 'The Way We Were'
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