Princess Diana Used to ‘Battle’ Prince William and Prince Harry’s Nanny Over What They Ate for Dinner
Princess Diana and Prince Charles had two children together. They welcomed their eldest son, Prince William, on June 21, 1982. Two years later, their second son, Prince Harry, was born.
When it came to raising her kids, Diana tore up the royal rule book and did things the way she wanted instead of the way former heirs were brought up. Diana had a laid back approach that wasn’t seen in royal households before and she clashed with Willliam and Harry’s nanny over what the children ate for dinner.
Prince William and Prince Harry’s nanny wanted them to eat all their greens
Chef Darren McGrady, who cooked for Princess Diana and her sons from 1993 to 1997, revealed that crispy roast chicken and homemade mac and cheese were some of the princes’ favorite foods growing up. However, their nanny always tried to get them to eat their veggies. She even adopted a way William and Harry would eat broccoli by allowing them to have one piece of roast chicken then too.
“The boys, I guess like any boys, weren’t huge fans of broccoli, but what she said was ‘When you do the broccoli, I want you to have one piece of broccoli with each piece of chicken,’” McGrady recalled.
Why Princess Diana ‘battled’ their nanny at dinnertime
McGrady told Hello! that Princess Diana was far less strict with what her kids ate and basically let them have what they wanted whether it was healthy or not.
“They liked comfort food dishes,” McGrady said. “They loved banana flan, anything with banana really, banana ice cream. They loved things like mixed grills, burgers, pizza, spaghetti and meatballs, chicken and cream chicken sauce… They were royal children but they still had children’s palates… She wasn’t strict at all. She let them be boys, young boys!”
However, the princess would often butt heads with the nanny over letting them have whatever they like.
“There was always a battle between her and Nanny,” McGrady remembered. “Nanny would say, ‘No, they’re eating their dinner, they’re having cabbage.’ And the Princess would say, ‘No, if they’re with me and they want loaded potato skins and fried chicken then they can have that. And if they don’t eat it and they still want pudding, they can have that too!’ She was much more relaxed than Nanny.”
The former royal chef added, “They could have chocolate, there weren’t special treats because if the boys were home, the princess wanted to spoil them.”
Do the princes cook at all today?
Prince Willliam and Prince Harry can still have chefs whip up something for them today whenever they want but many have wondered if either one cook at all.
The Duke of Sussex is no stranger to making meals and even spoke about cooking a roast chicken the night he proposed to Meghan, Duchess of Sussex.
The Duke of Cambridge, however, admitted that he’s doesn’t really have culinary skills saying, “I do like cooking, but I’m not very good.”
