NEWS... BUT NOT AS YOU KNOW IT
A former Royal chef has revealed how the Queen likes her afternoon tea and scones.
There was strict protocol for staff to follow at the time he worked there, and the Queen allegedly has ‘frugal’ tastes.
Darren McGrady spoke exclusively to Coffee Friend, a coffee machine retailer, sharing that Her Majesty enjoyed afternoon tea every day while he worked for the family.
He said: ‘The Queen had afternoon tea every day, wherever she was in the world. If we were at Buckingham Palace and she was on her own for tea, or whether she had Prince William come and join her, or whether she had a garden party for 6000 people or even if she was on the Royal Britannia in Australia.
‘The Queen loved afternoon tea, I would say it’s probably one of her favourite meals. Certainly when I was there, she would sit down religiously for tea.’
The menu had to involve two types of sandwiches with scones – one day it would be plain, the next it would have raisins.
Darren shared that bstaff would always call down and double check what flavour scones were had the day before, just so they wouldn’t serve the same two days in a row.
This would be followed by a small cake, such as a mini chocolate eclair, a Queen’s cake, honey and cream sponge, a fruit cake, gingerbread, banana bread, chocolate biscuit cake, or a chocolate ganache cake (her favourite).
With this, she would have Earl Grey tea – which must be piping hot.
Cream or jam first? (Picture: Getty Images/EyeEm)
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Darren added: ‘The one thing you can say about the Queen is that she is very frugal.
‘It was one of the things that really surprised me, when I moved from The Savoy to Buckingham Palace. I thought every day would be smoked salmon, foie gras, caviar, but no.
‘The Queen is very, very frugal and it’s simple and plain foods. That comes from her early years of growing up during the war.’
As for Prince William and Harry, they would love a chocolate biscuit cake as children and would sometimes join the Queen for tea.
But their ultimate favourite was a caramel banana cake, which would be requested when they were dining.
Ingredients: (Makes 24 good size teacakes)
Delicious (Picture: Getty Images/iStockphoto)
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