{"id":133237,"date":"2026-02-14T02:30:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-14T02:30:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/133237\/"},"modified":"2026-02-14T02:30:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-14T02:30:08","slug":"queen-elizabeth-kept-a-secret-stash-of-this-sweet-treat-at-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/133237\/","title":{"rendered":"Queen Elizabeth Kept a Secret Stash of This Sweet Treat at Home"},"content":{"rendered":"

We all have our guilty pleasures, and Queen Elizabeth II definitely had a few, from her favorite comfort food to her pre-noon cocktail<\/a>. (Hey, when you\u2019re the queen, you make your own rules!) But as it turns out, she also had quite the sweet tooth. And according to one of her ladies-in-waiting, the late queen loved it so much that she kept a secret stash hidden from the other royals in her household, including her husband, Prince Philip.<\/p>\n

So was it a slice of cake? Some figgy pudding? A fancy French pastry we can\u2019t properly pronounce? None of the above! Read on for the big reveal.<\/p>\n

Get\u00a0Reader\u2019s Digest\u2019s\u00a0Read Up newsletter<\/a> for more royals, humor, cleaning, travel, tech and fun facts all week long.<\/p>\n

Which sweet treat did Queen Elizabeth hide from her family?<\/p>\n

\"TheADRIAN DENNIS\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Chocolate! Lady Pamela Hicks, the queen\u2019s cousin and former lady-in-waiting, revealed that Elizabeth always had a box with her. And, it seems, Her Majesty wasn\u2019t too keen on sharing it with anyone.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe does have her own box of chocolates,\u201d said Lady Pamela in the 2022 ITV documentary My Years with the Queen, which came out just a few months before the queen\u2019s death. \u201cBut she has learnt to keep it in her room. Otherwise, she says the family are so greedy, they all eat them before she can.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lady Pamela apparently knew this firsthand. The queen regularly stayed over at her cousin\u2019s estate at Broadlands in Hampshire, about two hours west of London, and even spent her wedding night there. And according to Lady Pamela, she always arrived with two boxes of chocolate in her bag, one for herself (which she hid immediately) and one for the family.<\/p>\n

Did this always work?<\/p>\n

No. But it wasn\u2019t always due to those \u201cgreedy\u201d family members<\/a>\u2014well, the human ones, anyway. As Lady Pamela shares in the documentary, the queen\u2019s pet mongoose, Neola, regularly found the monarch\u2019s secret stash.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne evening, we were waiting for her to come down for dinner,\u201d Lady Pamela recalls. \u201cIt was very unusual for the queen that she was four or five minutes late. And she said to me, \u2018I don\u2019t mind Neola coming into my room. In fact, I quite enjoy it. I don\u2019t mind Neola opening my box of chocolates, but does he have, always, to take just a bite out of every one?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Good question\u2014and bad Neola!<\/p>\n

Which chocolates were the queen\u2019s favorite?<\/p>\n

She favored luxury chocolates and pralines from her go-to brand, Charbonnel et Walker (a London chocolatier, despite the French name). As former palace chef Darren McGrady said in a radio interview, Elizabeth had \u201cvery floral tastes.\u201d<\/p>\n

What does that mean, exactly? Here\u2019s Charbonnel et Walker\u2019s official description of the queen\u2019s beloved Rose and Violet Cream: \u201cA royal favourite, our Charbonnel et Walker Rose and Violet Creams are quintessentially English. Our unique fondant recipe is infused with attar of Roses and Violets (the essential oil extracted from the petals). Enrobed in our finest dark chocolate and entirely hand finished with crystallised Rose and Violet petals.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tempted? You can order a box here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

What other sweets did she indulge in?<\/p>\n

\"ThePool\/Tim Graham Picture Library\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

She also loved a chocolate biscuit cake. This is, again, according to McGrady, who told Today Food, \u201cThis cake is probably the only one that is sent into the royal dining room again and again until it has all gone. It is her favourite cake that she eats until it is all gone.\u201d Elizabeth\u2019s go-to treat is surprisingly easy to make, with just four ingredients: cookies, dark chocolate, sugar and butter.<\/p>\n

Fun fact: She loved the cake so much that she insisted on taking any leftovers home. \u201cIf there is anything left when she has it at Buckingham Palace, it then goes to Windsor Castle so she can finish it there,\u201d McGrady says. \u201cI used to travel on the train from London to Windsor Castle with the biscuit cake in a tin on my knee. It was half eaten.\u201d<\/p>\n

Elizabeth also had a sweet spot<\/a> for something called chocolate perfection pie. \u201cIt\u2019s layers of chocolate mousse, a layer of cinnamon cream and a layer of meringue,\u201d McGrady explained. And he says it wasn\u2019t reserved for just lunches and dinners; he also served it when other monarchs or presidents came to visit.<\/p>\n

Are there more chocoholics in the royal family?<\/p>\n

Yes! Elizabeth was in good company:<\/p>\n

Prince William and Princess Kate reportedly had the queen\u2019s beloved chocolate biscuit cake for their wedding<\/a>. During their Caribbean tour in 2022, they visited a chocolate farm in Belize, and William jokingly asked if he could work there as an apprentice, saying, \u201cIt\u2019s my kind of thing.\u201d
\nPrincess Diana was known for her down-to-earth chocolate taste. While she could have afforded the fanciest chocolates around, the late Princess of Wales opted for Cadbury\u2019s Twirls as her regular treat.
\nPrince Harry hasn\u2019t been caught snacking in public, but he recently featured in a video promoting Meghan\u2019s As Ever collaboration with Compart\u00e9s chocolates.<\/p>\n

RELATED:<\/p>\n

Why trust us<\/p>\n

Reader\u2019s Digest has published hundreds of stories on the British royal family, providing a behind-the-scenes look at the fascinating facets of the monarchy. We regularly cover topics including the latest royal news, the history and meaning behind time-honored traditions, and the everyday quirks of everyone\u2019s favorite family members, from Queen Elizabeth\u2019s daily snack to Prince William\u2019s confessions about his home life. We\u2019re committed to producing high-quality content by writers with expertise and experience in their field in consultation with relevant, qualified experts. We rely on reputable primary sources, including government and professional organizations and academic institutions as well as our writers\u2019 personal experiences where appropriate. We verify all facts and data, back them with credible sourcing and revisit them over time to ensure they remain accurate and up to date. Read more about our team<\/a>, our contributors and our editorial policies<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Sources:<\/p>\n

My Years with the Queen<\/a>
\nThe Kyle & Jackie O\u2019Show<\/a>
\nToday<\/a>: \u201cQueen Elizabeth II\u2019s favorite cake: chocolate biscuit cake\u201d
\nSimple Recipes<\/a>: \u201cThe 4-ingredient chocolate cake Queen Elizabeth never shared (It\u2019s that good)\u201d
\nPeople<\/a>: \u201cFind out the queen\u2019s lifelong secret to staying slim \u2013 and get her favorite pie recipe from the palace chef!\u201d
\nBustle<\/a>: \u201cPrincess Diana was a big fan of this Cadbury\u2019s classic\u201d
\nThe Independent<\/a>: \u201cMeghan shares rare home video surprising Harry before Valentine\u2019s Day\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"We all have our guilty pleasures, and Queen Elizabeth II definitely had a few, from her favorite comfort…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":133238,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[9,24,13256,63,122,124,123],"class_list":["post-133237","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-queens","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-not-set","tag-nyc","tag-queens","tag-queens-headlines","tag-queens-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133237","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=133237"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133237\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/133238"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=133237"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=133237"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=133237"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}