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HEY WERE the happiest times at Kensington,” Darren McGrady
remembered about the
four years he worked as Princess
Diana’s personal chef at the palace.
McGrady had worked for Queen
Elizabeth II in Buckingham Palace
for 11 years before the Princess of
Wales asked him to join her, Prince
William and Prince Harry at Kensington, where they lived after her
divorce from Prince Charles in
1996. But he took the opportunity
to leave the Downton Abbey-esque
formality and enter Diana’s world,
one that eschewed all of the stuffy
traditions in lieu of a warmer, more
personable approach to living —
and eating — royally.
Gone were the grand banquet
tables — Diana preferred a round
table that sat 10 people so that
she could connect with everyone she ate with. “If she was on
her own for lunch, she’d actually
come and eat in the kitchen on the
countertop,” McGrady said. “I’d
make a tray for her and I’d just be
tidying up the kitchen and things
as we were chatting.”
Was this type of behavior from a
royal unheard of? “Oh, absolutely,”
he said. “The rest of the royals
would never do that.” To provide
FOOD
HUFFINGTON
03.02.14
COURTESY OF DARREN MCGRADY
“T
some perspective, when the Queen
entered the kitchen at Buckingham
Palace, all kitchen staff had to stop
what they were doing, move pans
to the side of the stove, step three
paces back and bow. McGrady remembered how Diana, on the other
hand, would burst into the kitchen
at Kensington and say, “Darren,
I need a coffee — oh, you’re busy.
I’ll make it. Do you want one?”
But while the late princess was no
stranger to the kitchen, cooking
was not Diana’s forte.
“She was just the worst, a terrible person in the kitchen,” McGrady said laughing. He would
cook for Diana five days a week,
then leave special plates of food
for the weekend in the refrigerator
Darren
McGrady’s
signed photo
of Princess
Diana.