Former royal chef reveals what ‘unfussy’ dish Princess Diana would request for her sons Princes William and Harry

A former royal chef has revealed the ‘unfussy’ dishes that Princess Diana would request for her sons William and Harry during their childhood.

According to her former chef, the late mother of Prince William and Prince Harry opted for ‘nursery foods’ and ‘comfort foods’ for her young sons and their favourite meal was one most British families can relate to.

In a video shared to his YouTube channel, ex royal cook Darren McGrady, born in Nottinghamshire, said the simple hearty meal Diana, who sadly passed away in 1997, requested for the boys was one of their favourite dishes – Spaghetti Bolognese.

McGrady said that although ‘they were royal princes, they still had children’s palettes’ so ‘Spaggy Bol’ was always a hit with the boys. 

Food consultant and former MasterChef contestant, Renae Smith, told Hello that Diana’s favoured dishes for herself and her children reflected her ‘unfussy, considered approach to food’.

Darren explained that he would make the dish in the traditional way, adding onion, celery, carrot, beef bouillon cubes and ground beef.

He served the sauce with either spaghetti or rice, and shared a helpful tip for thickening the sauce: adding a small amount of flour.

‘When she [Diana] was entertaining, especially if she had the boys home, William and Harry, I had to change the menu to make it nursery friendly so that the boys would like it – comfort food that they would like, but a dish to two that she would like too,’ McGrady revealed. 

The chef revealed that he watched the boys grow up over the 11 years he worked at Kensington Palace, even seeing them play hide and seek in the kitchen over the years. 

He said: ‘I used to puree vegetables for them as babies and hold Harry as a baby in the kitchen at Windsor castle as they got older making all their favourite nursery foods and comfort foods.

‘They used to play hide and seek, Harry would hide in a cabinet and William would come in hunting for him, ”Have you seen Harry, have you seen Harry”, and sometimes they would help cook…that never went too well.’

While the princes enjoyed their favourite meal a lot in the palace, Diana used to opt for something a little more sophisticated. 

The chef revealed that he cooked sole florentine for Diana, however he revealed the Princess once changed the menu completely when a friend joined her for lunch, opting for Darren’s tomato mousse followed by lobster thermidor with a pear flan for dessert. 

Reminiscing about his time in the palace with Prince William and Prince Harry as children, McGrady said: ‘One time at Christmas the boys had been given pump action water guns, they came running into the kitchen firing them and everybody got soaked, we weren’t prepared.

‘We decided we were going to get them back, a few days later we went into nearby King’s Lynn and found some pump action water guns and raced back to the palace.

‘But walking across the lawn a policeman saw us, he said ”What are you doing? Take those guns back to your room” and my friend Arthur said ”Oh we’re going to shoot William and Harry”.

‘So we never did get to shoot William and Harry with the water guns but I always kept in the kitchen, just in case they came in, a little container squeeze bottle with some water in, so if they came in and attacked me again with water guns I was ready.’

It comes after McGrady revealed Princess Diana’s favourite breakfast almost 30 years after her tragic death – and it’s a ‘super healthy’ one loved by influencers.

According to her former chef, Diana began eating the nutritious meal of overnight oats after discovering on a trip to Switzerland in the 1990s.

In another video shared to his YouTube channel, the ex royal cook said the simple hearty breakfast was what the princess ate ‘everyday’ or on ‘most mornings’ at Kensington Palace.

He added that it was ‘healthy and packed with protein and nutrients’ – much of the reason why modern-day celebrities and influencers have gone crazy for it.

A-listers such as Cameron Diaz, Gwyneth Paltrow and Victoria Beckham have all championed the meal in recent years.

Overnight oats is a no-cook dish that requires preparing oatmeal by soaking it in liquids such as milk or juice, and other ingredients such as fruits, nut butters and nuts overnight in the refrigerator.

Nutritionists have labelled it one of the healthiest breakfasts to exist due to properties such as lessening the risk of diabetes, reducing cholesterol and the risk of obesity.

In a caption accompanying the clip, Darren shared his special recipe which included blueberries and fresh walnuts.

He began by explaining that Princess Diana was ‘looking the best she ever did’ during the days he cooked overnight oats and other meals for her.

‘She was now eating healthy – her go-to breakfast was something called overnight oats’ said Darren.

He added: ‘Now today overnight oats is popular. Everybody is eating them but they date back to 2012.

‘That’s when you couldn’t go on social media without seeing a recipe for overnight oats. But Princess Diana was eating overnight oats almost 20 years earlier in 1993.’

The top chef revealed that Diana stumbled upon the dish in Switzerland, where she was introduced to the intriguing breakfast for the first time.

‘They were actually called bircher muesli and they were invented by a Swiss nutritionist who thought they were really, really good and all the ingredients were super, super healthy’ he continued.

Overnight oats was reportedly invented by Dr Maximilian Oskar Bircher-Benner around the 20th century so his patients could enjoy a healthy and easy meal.

Darren joked that the late princess stole the recipe and returned to Britain where she asked the expert chef to make them for breakfast ‘everyday’.

He added that while oatmeal could be enjoyed hot, eating them cold placed the dish on ‘another level’ and made them taste ‘amazing’. 

Next, he talked viewers through his personal recipe, one seemingly similar to what he cooked for the late royal princess herself.

‘Start off by steeping the oats – that means adding a liquid to them. I use rolled oats.

‘Don’t use the quick oats or anything like that’ he warned. ‘The rolled oats in my opinion are the best’.

Darren showed the camera a silver bowl of uncooked oats, and afterwards poured a jug of freshly squeezed orange juice inside it.

‘Cover them [the oats] with plastic and then put them in the refrigerator and leave them overnight… overnight oats.’

He produced the results of nightly soaked oats which appeared to have swelled up with each grain now clinging to each other.

The expert chef stirred the contents together and then reached for his next ingredient – a pot of yoghurt.

He opted for the dairy snack due to its high protein content, and then for a sweet kick he added a drop of honey.

‘With the raw honey just do that to taste,’ continued Darren.

‘If you like it really, really sweet then obviously put a little bit more in but not too much’.

Finally, he added half a honey crisp apple, the juice of one lemon, one cup of fresh blueberries and a 1/2 cup of toasted walnuts.

‘So there are many different things you can add into the dish now’ he explained.

‘Los of different fruits, all the berries and the strawberries… chia seeds are really popular now too.

‘This is the classic traditional dish that Princess Diana had for breakfast every morning.

‘I have to admit when I was making this for Princess Diana every morning at Kensington Palace it was so good, I actually used to double the recipe so that the chef got it too,’ he joked.

He presented the concoction in a medium-sized tumbler with a silver panel which was now overflowing with creamy oats.

A few blueberries and chopped walnuts made for the perfect garnish to his completed recipe.

‘Well there you go! It’s so much cheaper than buying it ready made at the store’ he concluded.