Princess Diana’s chef Darren McGrady opened up about how the royal family managed during times of food shortages.
Darren has worked as a chef to the Queen, Diana, Princes William and Harry for fifteen years.
He shared during an interview with HELLO!, how King George V created “elevenses” during WWI. He explained: “King George V was the one who started elevenses, [when] you sort of stop about 11 o’clock and have a cup of tea and a snack.
He started it because it was during the war, food was being rationed, and people weren’t getting food. So he thought if the royal kitchens made soup and fed the staff a big bowl of hearty soup, then when it came to lunchtime, they wouldn’t be that hungry.
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In the 1940’s, when WWII happened the Queen’s father King George VI was on the throne, ration coupons were introduced until 1954. During this time, the bombing had affected the UK’s imports and Britain imported around 70 per cent of its food.
Darren revealed that this didn’t affect the royal family as they had their own farm and everyone was breeding pigs. He continued: “[At] Windsor Castle, they had their own farm and everyone was breeding pigs, there was plenty of pork around.
So they were pretty self-sufficient. Balmoral had its own gardens, as it still does today. There was all the venison and deer off the estate, and coming from Hampton Court and Sandringham. At the palace, soups and things like that were made, and meat was no longer allowed to be served at lunchtime, it was just for dinner.
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“I remember reading about one of the palace chefs back in that time, he used to make a cottage pie which was actually vegetables in a vegetable sauce and mash potatoes on the top, so it was sort of vegetarian food they were living on at lunchtime.”
Darren said that after Queen’s marriage, she did rationing and had grown strawberries. He revealed: “When the Queen got married in 1947, she was used to this rationing, and in fact, her special treat was to have strawberries grown at Windsor Castle under covers in the greenhouse. That was her special treat to go on the menu for pudding during the war years.”
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