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she was watching her fat intake. In
fact, while eating lunch with Oprah
Winfrey, another famous dieter,
Diana managed to pull a fast one on
the television host as the two dined
on McGrady’s tomato mousse. After a few mouthfuls, Oprah put
down her spoon and said, “Diana,
how do you stay so slim eating
rich food like this?” The princess
replied, “I just eat small portions
and work out.” That wasn’t quite
true, though — Diana had McGrady
serve her a fat-free version of his
tomato mousse, while Oprah was
eating the full-fat dish chock full of
mayonnaise, sour cream and heavy
cream. “Diana never did tell her the
truth,” McGrady said.
WHEN IT COMES to kitchen habits or otherwise, it’s hard to avoid
comparisons between Diana’s
down-to-earth nature and that of
another royal wife: Kate Middleton. “We’ve got another stunning
princess,” McGrady said about
the Duchess of Cambridge. “She’s
beautiful. She’s the clotheshorse
that Princess Diana was, that Fergie never was.” The one key difference? Kate reportedly has a keen
interest in cooking and is a whiz
in the kitchen (she even makes
her own jam). This is a big shift
FOOD
HUFFINGTON
03.02.14
for the Windsors, even when compared to Diana’s forward-thinking
dining sensibilities.
“Tradition had it that whenever one of the royals got married,
they would take one of the Queen’s
chefs, one of mummy’s chefs who
knew how they liked their food,” he
explained. “Then you have William
and Kate who are saying, ‘No we
want to cook; we want to shop for
our own food.’ Kate’s a commoner.
Diana’s world... eschewed
all of the stuffy traditions
in lieu of a warmer, more
personable approach to living
— and eating — royally.”
She loves to cook and she wants
to do that. I think the princess
would’ve been thrilled with Kate.”
While we can only speculate how
Diana would feel about Kate, it’s
clear that the royal couple is doing exactly what the late princess
would have continued to do: buck
tradition in the kitchen.
Make sure to check out Darren
McGrady’s book, Eating Royally,
for more anecdotes and recipes
from his time at Buckingham Palace and Kensington Palace.