Christmas Dinner Leftovers: What the Royal Family Does With All the Food They Don’t Eat
Every year around the holidays, members of Britain’s royal family gather at the Sandringham estate to celebrate Christmas together.
Their traditions for the holidays include opening gifts on Christmas Eve, going to church on Christmas morning, watching King Charles’ televised address, and eating a large feast prepared by royal chefs.
Darren McGrady was a chef at Buckingham Palace for more than a decade, where he cooked for Queen Elizabeth II, Prince Philip and others. He was later transferred to Kensington Palace, where he worked as Princess Diana’s personal chef up until her death in 1997.
He shared that members of the royal family ate well on Christmas Day as it was all-hands on deck, with plenty of chefs preparing the meal.
Speaking on behalf of Smooth Spins Casino, McGrady told Showbiz Cheat Sheet that the family’s Christmas meal would consist of “a salad course and roast turkey. It was the traditional roast turkey, sometimes with chestnut stuffing. Then the traditional side dishes too — the Brussel sprouts, roast parsnips, roast potatoes and mashed potatoes, then the turkey gravy.”
So if the royals weren’t able to finish all that food on Christmas Day, what was done with it? If you’re thinking they made turkey sandwiches later like many of us do, that’s not the case.
“They didn’t make turkey sandwiches with any leftovers,” McGrady said, adding, “We would often cook another turkey for Boxing Day (the day after Christmas) for the shooting lunch. So all the men would go out shooting, and the ladies would join them later. They would all meet out on the estate at Sandringham to have a cooked lunch. Usually, we would do a mild turkey curry, stew, or casserole using up any leftovers. We always cooked a little bit extra for them on Boxing Day.”
