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For years Prince William and the Princess of Wales (formerly known as Kate Middleton) have stated that they want their children to have a “normal childhood.” This was something Princess Diana also tried to do when William and Prince Harry were growing up. But William’s wife’s definition of “normal” is quite different from his mother‘s as Kate “would never dream” of taking Prince George, Princess Charlotte, and Prince Louis to McDonald’s.

Here’s more on that and what Princess Diana’s former employees said about her choice to feed her children fast food and have “McDonald’s picnics” with her aides.

Prince William and Kate Middleton standing with Prince George, Prince Louis, and Princess Charlotte on the balcony of Buckingham Palace at the end of the Platinum Pageant
Prince William and Kate Middleton standing with Prince George, Prince Louis, and Princess Charlotte on the balcony of Buckingham Palace at the end of the Platinum Pageant | Mark Cuthbert/UK Press via Getty Images

Princess Diana used to take William and Harry to McDonald’s

When they were children, Princess Diana wanted to get William and Harry outside of the palace to experience things other children their age did, and she wasn’t above taking them to McDonald’s to eat.

The princess’s former chef, Darren McGrady, said Diana made sure she took them to the fast food chain whenever there was a specific toy they liked that came with Happy Meals.

“I remember the princess came into the kitchen one day and said, ‘Cancel lunch for the boys I’m taking them out, we’re going to McDonald’s. And I said, ‘Oh my God your royal highness, I can do that, I can do burgers.’ And she said, ‘No, it’s the toy they want,’” McGrady recalled to Marie Claire adding, “The boys loved McDonald’s …They were royal princes but had children’s palates.”

Princess Diana arrives at Aberdeen airport in Scotland with Prince William and Prince Harry in 1989
Princess Diana arrives at Aberdeen airport in Scotland with Prince William and Prince Harry in 1989 | Jayne Fincher/Princess Diana Archive/Getty Images

Book claims Kate would never take George, Charlotte, and Louis there

However, royal biographer Tom Quinn, who authored the book Gilded Youth: An Intimate History of Growing Up in the Royal Family, claimed that William’s children aren’t eating at the place their father did because, unlike Diana, Kate “wouldn’t dream of taking them there.”

According to Quinn’s book, the new Princess of Wales isn’t following in her mother-in-law’s footsteps no matter what toy is included with Happy Meals.

He told Fox News Digital: “They’ve said they want their children to have a more normal childhood and I think genuinely they will. But it won’t be as much as the rest of us. It won’t be in the same way that we define it because Kate wants to escape her middle-class childhood. She dislikes burgers and chips and wouldn’t dream of taking her children to McDonald’s, and she doesn’t rock the boat when the vast weight of traditional royal pursuits bears down on their children.”

Kate Middleton with her kids Prince George, Princess Charlotte, and Prince Louis during Trooping The Colour
Kate Middleton with her kids Prince George, Princess Charlotte, and Prince Louis during Trooping The Colour | MATT DUNHAM/POOL/AFP via Getty Images

Diana had a ‘McDonald’s picnic’ with her employees

Kate’s relationship with her staff is something the public knows very little about. But if she won’t take her kids to McDonald’s, she probably doesn’t order from there herself and sit down for a Big Mac with her aides like Diana did.

Paul Burrell, who was Princess Diana’s butler from 1987 until her death in 1997, said they had a McDonald’s picnic at the palace.

Speaking behalf of Slingo, Burrell relayed a story about a time that he and another staffer named Mark Simpson “used to go down and chat with [Diana] and she said to me one day, ‘you know what I’d really love? I’d love a Big Mac and fries and a strawberry milkshake, do you think you could make that happen?’ Mark and I went down to Victoria, way back all those years, McDonald’s weren’t on every street corner then and there was one by the cathedral in Victoria. We got Big Macs and strawberry milkshakes, we took them back to the royal nursery and sat on the floor cross-legged with her and it was a party, a picnic in a palace.”