Queen Elizabeth’s Former Chef Reveals Why Family Members Wouldn’t Ever Visit Her on Her Birthday
During her 70-plus-year reign as Britain’s monarch, Queen Elizabeth II celebrated two birthdays. One on the day she was born, April 21, and the other on the second Saturday of June in what’s known as Trooping the Colour to mark the Sovereign’s official birthday.
While the royal family was always by the late monarch‘s side for the public event, they didn’t visit her on her actual birthday in April, and now her former chef is revealing why.
Former chef shares reason the family never visited Queen Elizabeth on her actual birthday
Darren McGrady was a chef at Buckingham Palace for more than a decade, cooking for Queen Elizabeth II. He was later transferred to Kensington Palace, where he worked as Princess Diana’s personal chef up until her death in 1997.
Speaking on behalf of Heart Bingo, McGrady told Showbiz Cheat Sheet: “When I joined the royal family, I thought birthdays would be over the top and elaborate. But in fact, it was completely the opposite. The late queen saw birthdays as just another day. The family would call the queen to wish her happy birthday, but they wouldn’t visit. She had a busy day and wanted to get on with her duties. Nobody came over with gifts or party balloons or anything like that.”
The royal chef did make a cake for the queen though on her actual birthday sharing, “It would be a chocolate genoise cake with chocolate ganache. It just said ‘Happy Birthday.’ There was never anything else written on there.
“The recipe dates back to Queen Victoria’s chef. It was the same family recipe used again and again and again. Every member of the royal family would have the same one. It was good, apart from on Christmas Day. In the early days, when everyone used to be at Windsor Castle, all the aunts and uncles. Princess Alexandra’s birthday was December 25, Christmas Day — so along with all the chocolates we would send up, we would send a birthday cake too. The late queen got two a year — one in April for her actual birthday, and one in June for her official birthday.”
That changed when the royal chef worked for Princess Diana
However, when McGrady worked for Princess Diana, things were different as she enjoyed celebrating together and giving gifts.
“When I moved to Princess Diana it was much more relaxed, we didn’t do the chocolate cake any more,” the chef explained. “I remember one of Prince William’s birthday cakes. I came into work and opened my refrigerator and there was a large box in there. I opened it, wondering who was using my refrigerator, and there was a large pair of women’s boobs. It was the cake Diana had bought for William. She’d thought he’d find this funny. She loved embarrassing William, and it was a fantastic gift for him. He loved it. It went down really well.”
“Princess Diana was a people pleaser. She went out of her way for people. Whether it was buying a gift and wrapping it personally, and handing it over with a handwritten note — she always did that with birthday gifts. She did that with so many friends, including in the kitchen with me. Every year on my birthday, she would come through with a beautiful gift. Usually, it was a Hermes tie. It was really, really nice. I have about seven of them. She was incredible like that, she always thought about friends.”
McGrady added, “For the princess and the boys, birthdays were about spending time together. She made sure that while they had the royal side with all the pomp and pageantry with Charles, they also got the ‘normal’ life with her. That meant a Saturday night treat was sitting in front of the television eating hamburgers and chips. That was a special treat for them.”
