For 11 years, Darren McGrady served as the Royal chef for the British monarchy, including four years as Princess Diana’s cook.
In an interview with DailyMail, McGrady says that Diana was an extremely healthy eater, who—even back in the 90s—mostly avoided all carbs and fats.
You May Also Like: Kate Middleton Reveals Her Post Baby Weight-Loss Secret
O’Grady tells the DailyMail that Diana asked the chef to prepare fat-free versions of foods such as chicken and potatoes. “For (Diana’s) potatoes, I’d parboil them and toss in egg whites and paprika. She’d cut out the fat so it was always poached chicken, no skin, no fatty potatoes,” says the cook.
He reveals to the publication that the former Princess of Wales also mostly avoided red meat except on special occasions. O’Grady recalls cooking roast lamb at the Princess’s request when Clint Eastwood came for dinner.
Ever mindful of her guests’ comfort level, Diana never wanted visitors to feel awkward about her own restrictive diet, usually asking McGrady to make two versions of the same dish—the proper version for the guest and a fat-free version for herself.
The chef adds that Diana especially loved stuffed peppers and eggplant.
You May Also Like: The New Diet You Need to Pay Attention To
But the Princess wasn’t all serious and no fun. In fact, Diana sounds a bit like all of us. McGrady said that Diana would come home and “eat in the kitchen on the countertop” and make her own coffee. She also loved McGrady’s bread and butter pudding and would sneak into the kitchen to pick all the raisins off to snack on.
Diana was also a horrendous cook, McGrady said, nothing during the weekends when he wasn’t cooking for her, he would have to leave dishes in the fridge with instructions on exactly how long to microwave each item.
Despite watching everything she ate herself, Diana was open to letting her children eat like children. Prince Harry was 9 and Prince William was 11 when McGrady started cooking for them.
‘The boys would love to eat things like shepherd’s pie and banana flan,’ he said.
‘When I was cooking for the Princes, they loved pizza and potato skins stuffed with mozzarella,”
