Princess Diana’s former chef has revealed she didn’t enjoy celebrating her birthday – as it meant getting ‘another year older’.
Today marks the late Princess of Wales’ 59th birthday, and Darren McGrady, 58, who cooked for the late Princess of Wales for four years from 1993 before her death in August 1997, has opened up about her special day.
The culinary expert, who now lives in Texas, revealed to Hello! that on her birthday, the royal would usually opt for a low-key affair with ‘no special dishes or cake’, and would spend the day having lunch with girlfriends before a ‘quiet evening’.
Princess Diana’s former chef Darren McGrady, 58, (pictured) cooked for the late Princess of Wales for four years from 1993 before her death in August 1997
He revealed Diana, pictured in 1989, didn’t enjoy celebrating her birthday as it meant getting ‘another year older’
‘Princess Diana didn’t really want to celebrate her birthdays’, said Darren, ‘it meant another year older. So no birthday cakes or special dishes.’
The Princess of Wales would normally enjoy a low-key lunch with her ‘girlie friends’, followed by a ‘quiet night’, and would often opt for something like grilled fish or stuffed bell pepper for dinner on her special day.
He explained that the royal’s birthday at Kensington Palace was his most hectic day, simply thanks to the sheer volume of flowers arriving from friends and Diana’s various charities.
The Princess of Wales would normally enjoy a low-key lunch with her ‘girlie friends’ on her birthday
Darren previously told how Diana changed his cooking style from heavy sauces to healthy eating, and would ask him to cook her stuffed bell peppers several times a week – sometimes casually eating in the kitchen with him.
During his four-year stint working for Diana in the mid-nineties, he recalled in a video with Delish how while the Queen would always stick to her planned menu book, Diana would often change her mind at the last minute, and made the royal kitchen a ‘relaxed place to work’.
Speaking about the first time he met the late royal, he said: ‘I remember the first time I met Princess Diana, I was at Balmoral Castle working in the pastry kitchen making apple pies.
‘The pastry chef was across one side of the table and we were just chatting. I looked up and right behind him was Princess Diana just stood there.
‘My face was a picture – I was beetroot red and just staring at the Princess. ‘Hello’ and ‘Goodbye’ is all I remember saying.’
The mother-of-two, pictured with Prince William and Harry at Kensington Palace, would enjoy a ‘quiet night’ and would often opt for something like grilled fish or stuffed bell pepper
Darren then moved onto cooking for Diana and William and Harry, revealing: ‘When I joined Princess Diana, she was patron of 119 different charities, working out at the gym three times a week, looking the best she ever did.
‘She had conquered and confronted the bulimia and she said to me, ‘Darren, you take care of all the fat, and I’ll take care of the carbs at the gym.
‘My cooking changed – no more heavy creams and rich sauces. It was healthy eating, and the stuffed bell peppers was one of her favourites dishes she probably had two or three times a week.’
Before Diana, Darren spent seven years cooking for the Queen, and admitted to Hello! that she is an ‘absolute chocoholic’ – however will only indulge in dark chocolate, never white or milk.
‘She is absolutely a chocoholic. Anything we put on the menu that had chocolate on, she would choose, especially chocolate perfection pie.’
He reveled the Queen’s top choice is Bendicks Bittermints – a dark chocolate treat filled with mint, given a Royal Warrant in 1962 – which are said to be her top choice ‘for snacking’.
Before Diana, Darren spent seven years cooking for the Queen, and admitted to Hello! that she is an ‘absolute chocoholic’