Queen Elizabeth Has a ‘Not Normal’ Way of Eating Meat, According to Former Butler

The royal family is often very private about many aspects of their lives, including their eating habits. However, some people who worked in royal households have pulled the curtain back and revealed some interesting tidbits about the way royals eat.

In particular, one former butler shared that Queen Elizabeth II has a way of eating meat that is not common among her peers.

Queen Elizabeth is not a foodie, according to former royal chef

One person who has talked about Her Majesty’s eating habits is Darren McGrady, a chef who worked for the queen herself in the 1980s and 1990s. According to McGrady, Queen Elizabeth is not much of a “foodie.”

“The queen wasn’t a real foodie,” he said in a 2020 video with Delish. “And I soon learned that she eats to live. She doesn’t live to eat. And so the menus that we did were pretty much the same again and again all the time.”

He added, “If we tried to come up with a new recipe, then we had to actually send up the recipe itself—the whole recipe—so the queen could look at the menu… and see what the ingredients were. And it was difficult trying to put new dishes on all the time.”

Her Majesty is also famous for banning certain food items from her house. For example, she does not eat garlic or shellfish. She also only eats pasta and other starches on special occasions.

Queen Elizabeth has a ‘not normal’ way of eating meat, former butler shared

While the queen regularly enjoys meat dishes, sources have shared that she typically eats her steak well-done.

Former royal butler Grant Harrold, who used to work for Prince Charles, said (via Express), “The Queen likes beef well done, she has things well done, which is interesting. I find in the world of aristocracy, things are always kind of medium or rare, but she likes it well done. (When I heard that) I found it quite funny because that’s not normal for most people like her. Most people like it rare or still kind of walking.”

McGrady also remembered this from his time with Queen Elizabeth.

“One of the things that really amazed me was that the queen actually likes her meat well-done,” he said. “And chefs, we cook medium-rare all the time, so it was really, really important that we got a really good sear on the steaks and cooked her steaks well-done.”

McGrady added, “If she ever was doing a standing rib roast, a prime rib, she always had the first slice because that meant that meat was well-done on the outside.”

Queen Elizabeth is more lenient about cream and butter

Although Queen Elizabeth can be strict with certain food items, she is very lenient when it comes to cream and butter.

McGrady shared, “One of the things I soon learned working for the queen was that all of the dishes were rich in cream and butter and fat. Calories really didn’t matter. We could use as much cream and butter in the dishes as we wanted to.”