{"id":161589,"date":"2026-03-12T18:13:42","date_gmt":"2026-03-12T18:13:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/161589\/"},"modified":"2026-03-12T18:13:42","modified_gmt":"2026-03-12T18:13:42","slug":"former-royal-chef-shares-important-part-of-queens-tea","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/161589\/","title":{"rendered":"Former Royal Chef Shares “Important” Part of Queen’s Tea"},"content":{"rendered":"

With a palace full of classically-trained chefs, Queen Elizabeth<\/a> could\u2019ve had her pick of lavish dishes. But former royal chef Darren McGrady<\/a> recently revealed that afternoon tea<\/a> was the late monarch\u2019s favorite meal\u2014and the kitchens had a very specific, cross-castle ritual that ensured her tea time<\/a> wasn\u2019t ruined.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe late Queen had afternoon tea every day, wherever she was in the world,\u201d McGrady said, speaking to U.K. coffee retailer Coffee Friend<\/a>. When she was at home, the royal chefs at Buckingham Palace<\/a> and Windsor Castle<\/a> would even trade notes to avoid any royal repeats.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere had to be two types of sandwiches on the menu, there were scones\u2014one day they would be plain scones, the next day they would be fruit scones with raisins,\u201d the former royal chef said. \u201cIt was really important the way they alternated. So much so, that the chefs at Buckingham Palace<\/a> would ring Windsor Castle on a Monday morning and ask what flavor scones The Queen had the day before, just to be sure we didn\u2019t serve the same.\u201d<\/p>\n

Article continues below <\/p>\n

You may like<\/p>\n

\n

\"Queen\n<\/p>\n

Queen Elizabeth is pictured drinking tea in 1999. <\/p>\n

(Image credit: Getty Images)<\/p>\n


\n<\/p>\n

\n

\"Teapigs\n<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

teapigs<\/p>\n

Teapigs Earl Grey Strong Tea Bags<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\n

\"Annette\n<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Pinky Up <\/p>\n

Annette Ceramic Tea Mug & Infuser<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Whether or not the late Queen<\/a> would have minded a repeat scone, we\u2019ll never know. McGrady admitted, \u201cI\u2019m not sure what would have happened if we did, but we always checked.\u201d<\/p>\n

For the tea sandwiches, McGrady said it depended \u201con the different houses we traveled to\u201d since regional flavors influenced the options. He explained, \u201ctake Balmoral<\/a> for instance, we\u2019d have so much salmon coming in, we\u2019d have that fresh salmon and make a beautiful salmon salad or put that into the sandwiches.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

\"Queen\n<\/p>\n

Queen Elizabeth is pictured sipping tea in 1985.<\/p>\n

(Image credit: Getty Images)<\/p>\n

As for what else was on the menu at Queen Elizabeth\u2019s favorite meal<\/a>, the former palace chef explained he\u2019d serve \u201csmall cakes, anything from a mini chocolate eclair to a Queen\u2019s cake,\u201d along with \u201clarge cakes too, which we would call a cut of cake, where the Queen could cut a slice of cake.\u201d Flavors could be anything from banana bread to gingerbread or fruit cake, and the sweets were always served with Earl Grey tea.<\/p>\n

McGrady noted that even though she was Queen, the late monarch was fuss-free with her tastes. \u201cI thought every day would be smoked salmon, foie gras, caviar, but no,\u201d he said. \u201cThe Queen was very very frugal and it\u2019s simple and plain foods. That comes from her early years of growing up during the war.\u201d<\/p>\n

Get exclusive access to fashion and beauty trends, hot-off-the-press celebrity news, and more.<\/p>\n

TOPICS<\/p>\n


\nQueen Elizabeth II
\n<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With a palace full of classically-trained chefs, Queen Elizabeth could\u2019ve had her pick of lavish dishes. But former…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":161590,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[9,24,63,122,124,123],"class_list":["post-161589","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-queens","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-queens","tag-queens-headlines","tag-queens-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161589","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=161589"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161589\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/161590"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=161589"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=161589"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=161589"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}