Who would have thought the Queen's diet would be rather simple.
When you think of the Queen, you'd imagine she has a lavish lifestyle. This includes her meals, and you probably believe they're also as fancy as her life, but the fact is, her meals aren't that grand. She follows a rigid set of rules when it comes to her food habits, but she does add in some luxuries here and there. Here's what the Queen eats in a day:
The first thing that the Queen drinks is a traditional cup of Earl Grey tea and biscuits. She doesn't put any sugar in her tea but she does add milk sometimes. Also, the exact type of biscuits is unknown. But, she makes sure she drinks it out of a proper teacup, reports Ranker. She usually has her tea around 7:30 am, when she listens to the radio and prepares for a morning bath.
Promptly at 9 am, the Queen is served breakfast. She eats a bowl of cereal; Special K is her favorite, but she's known to have Weetabix and Quaker Oats at times, too. She also has a few fruits along with her cereal, usually some of her favorites, like mangoes and strawberries.
On rare occasions, the Queen has eggs for breakfast. According to her former personal chef, Darren McGrady, she likes her eggs scrambled "with smoked salmon and a grating of truffle. But she was too frugal ever to order fresh truffles and only really enjoyed them at Christmas when the truffles were sent as a gift." She likes brown eggs and occasionally has toast and marmalade along with it.
Since she prefers to keep her diet "disciplined" and "healthy," she avoids pasta, rice, or potatoes in any of her meals. She only ever eats these carbohydrates during state banquets.
Queen Elizabeth consumes at least four alcoholic beverages a day. Her favorite cocktail is a mixture of gin—she prefers Gordon's gin, as it has a royal warrant, Dubonnet—a wine-based aperitif that dates back to the mid-19th century, lemon, and ice. She also enjoys a nice glass of German wine.
Lunch is served exactly at 1:15 pm. Queen Elizabeth usually has a mix of protein and veggies in her meal, and she switches it up between meat, fish, and chicken. But, irrespective of what's on her plate, she prefers to eat lunch alone.
At 5 pm, the Queen has her British tea, complete with finger sandwiches, scones, and cake. Though she doesn't eat scones, she insists on having them on the table, and she usually feeds them to her pet dogs. As for the sandwiches, she prefers to have a variety, and she's okay with the choice of bread, just that they have to be crustless.
Dinner is served between 7:30 and 8:15 pm, and it is the most intricate meal of the day. She enjoys dishes like lamb, salmon, Gaelic steak with mushroom sauce, or a well-done Sunday roast. However, the one thing you will never find in any of the Queen's meals is garlic, as she's banned it completely from the palace.
The Queen really likes chocolate, and she's okay with any kind. She doesn't even care if it's from a luxurious hotel or a small supermarket. According to Food and Wine, former chef Darren McGrady's chocolate biscuit cake was one of her favorites. According to McGrady, "She'll take a small slice every day until eventually there is only one tiny piece, but you have to send that up, she wants to finish the whole of that cake... The chocolate biscuit cake is the only cake that goes back again and again and again until it's all gone.”
Before she hits the sack, the Queen likes to wrap up her eventful day with a glass of champagne. She usually chooses from one of eight brands that hold royal warrants.
References:
https://www.ranker.com/list/what-queen-elizabeth-eats/melissa-sartore
https://www.foodandwine.com/news/queen-doesnt-leave-buckingham-palace-without-cake
Cover Image Source: Getty Images | Photo by Yui Mok
