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Edinburgh Live
Edinburgh Live
World
Emma Crabtree

The Queen’s eating habits described as 'not normal' by her former royal butler

The Queen's 'not normal' eating habits have been confirmed by a former royal butler.

Grant Harrold served the family for over seven years and has now laid bare one of her unusual culinary habits.

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The Express reports that the butler worked at Prince Charles at Highgrove House in Gloucestershire.

Former chefs and butlers have previously revealed strange eating habits of the royals including the fact that Prince Charles regularly skips lunch and that when the Queen has finished eating, everyone else at the table must finish too, reports the paper.

The seasoned butler revealed to MyLondon that the way the Queen has her steak cooked is rather unusual for a member of the aristocracy.

Mr Harrold said: “The Queen likes beef well done, she has things well done, which is interesting.

“I find in the world of aristocracy, things are always kind of medium or rare, but she likes it well done.”

He continued: “(When I heard that) I found it quite funny because that’s not normal for most people like her.

“Most people like it rare or still kind of walking.”

The Queen is not like most people it seems, and it is not only her beef that she eats in an unusual way.

Mr Harrold stated that the royals have “a very healthy diet” that is “very traditional, just home-cooked food” but their table and food habits are seemingly less traditional.

It has been widely considered that there is a general ban on garlic in the royal household, the Queen is thought to not like the taste and the Duchess of Cornwall stated on MasterChef Australia that it was a “no-no”.

Camilla joked in the programme after being questioned if the ban was due to royal engagements as she said: “You always have to lay off the garlic.”

Darren McGrady, former royal chef, told Marie Clare that the Queen is partial to fresh fruit out of a plastic box.

Mr McGrady stated: “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.”

While the Queen is sensible with eating her fruit, she reportedly is not so well-behaved when it comes to eating the crusts off her favourite tuna and cucumber sandwiches which she has removed.

Arguably, the most peculiar eating habit of the Queen is in fact how she reportedly eats bananas – with a knife and fork.

The Queen will slice off the top and bottom of the banana before chopping the fruit into small bite-sized pieces which she will eat with a fork, so she avoids looking “like a monkey”.

Darren told The Huffington Post that he “used to travel on the train from London to Windsor Castle with the biscuit cake in a tin on my knee. It was half eaten”.

The Queen famously has a sweet-tooth, and her favourite sweet treat is a chocolate biscuit cake which she has a piece of everyday even when travelling.

McGrady revealed that some of the items on Her Majesty’s menu date back to Queen Victoria with the classic chocolate cake made in the royal kitchen.

He said: “The Chocolate Biscuit Cake is the only cake that goes back again and again and again every day until it’s all gone.

“She’ll take a small slice every day until eventually there is only one tiny piece, but you have to send that up, she wants to finish the whole of that cake.”

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