What the Royal Family eats at Christmas

[According to former royal chef Darren McGrady, this is exactly what the royal family eats for Christmas.

McGrady, who worked for the late Princess Diana and has prepared the royal family's Christmas meal seven times, calls Christmas with the royal family at Sandringham a "modern-day Downton Abbey," according to Hello. The day began with a full English breakfast before the family headed to St. Mary Magdalen's church, and when they returned, lunch was "the same meal every year," he says.

"They're actually bored when it comes to festivities," McGrady says. 'They didn't do ham or anything, just the traditional turkey. We prepared three turkeys for the queen and her family in the royal dining room, one for the children's nursery, and more for the 100 or so staff members.

According to Mac Grady, the queen and senior members of the royal family ate in the main room, while the young children ate in the children's room, cared for by nannies.

"The children always ate in the nursery until they were old enough to behave properly at the table," he says. So for the queen, there was no such thing as a highchair at the dinner table with little babies squeaking and throwing food. That was Victorian. The children's place was in the nursery, and the nannies took care of them."

In addition to the Christmas turkey, the family feasted on "a variety of stuffing - sage and onions, chestnuts, and traditional sides like roast potatoes, mashed potatoes, parsnips, and Brussels sprouts."

Dessert was, of course, Christmas pudding.

"The pudding was made in a pudding basket, turned inside out, decorated with holly, and dipped in brandy. It was very traditional."

After lunch, the family took a walk around Sandringham and returned home to watch the Queen's Speech (or in this year's case, the King's Speech, which is broadcast at 3:00 PM local time).

"Not long after that, they go for afternoon tea," McGrady says. 'Chocolate yule logs with an arrangement of chocolate birthday cake, scones, mince pies, all sorts of sandwiches, and Christmas cake. I made one large Christmas cake for the Queen and the Royal Family and another smaller one for the nursery of Prince William, Prince Harry, Zara (Phillips), Peter (Phillips), Princess Beatrice, and Princess Eugenie. It was always a fruit cake, royal icing, marzipan, and the traditional fruit cake."

Hungry already? The last meal of the day was the evening buffet, which Mac Grady describes as "even more elaborate" than lunch. It was also the only time the head chef entered the dining room to carve the meat.

"The buffet was when all the food was brought in. When I was there, Harrods always served whole roasted foie gras. And a whole Stilton cheese. We would take the top off, poke holes in it with a pitchfork, and pour port wine in it. That would spread the gorgeous flavors on the crackers. It was really gorgeous. It was also decorated with a big York ham," he said. (Harrods no longer serves foie gras to the royal family: when Prince Charles ascended to the throne, they banned eating foie gras in all royal palaces.) [After all the meat had been carved, the queen asked the butler to pour a drink for the head cook, who toasted him with a whisky and said thank you.

Mac Grady worked for Princess Diana until her death in 1997, "I always enjoyed when Princess Diana was here. She would come to the kitchen and she loved the crepe soufflé dessert. I always had that on the menu. She would come down to the kitchen after everyone had left the table for lunch and say, 'Oh my God, is there any crepe soufflé left? ' When the tray came back I always put it in the warmer. I said, 'I love this pudding, but I'm too scared to ask for another one in front of the queen.'"

.