Eat fruit in season, no coffin-shaped sandwiches: Queen Elizabeth’s food rules, and the sweet treat chefs made for her corgis

A former royal chef shared anecdotes about Queen Elizabeth’s eating habits. Among them: she insisted on scones for tea, but ‘never ate them’ – her dogs did

Corners had to be cut off tea sandwiches but they could not be left rectangular – ‘it looked too much like a coffin and it meant you wished the Queen ill’

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Queen Elizabeth looks on during a visit to officially open a new building at Thames Hospice, Maidenhead, England in July, 2022. The queen had a number of long-established food habits, her former private chef Darren McGrady says. Photo: Pool/AP

Published: 6:15am, 18 Sep 2022

Members of the British royal family are mourning the loss of Queen Elizabeth, who died at Balmoral Castle on September 8, aged 96.

The late Queen made history as the longest-serving monarch in British history, on the throne for 70 years. Over the years, some people close to the Queen have shared anecdotes about the monarch.

For example, one former royal chef, Darren McGrady, shared little-known details about the Queen’s eating habits in his 2007 cookbook, Eating Royally: Recipes and Remembrances from a Palace Kitchen.

McGrady spent 15 years as a chef for the Queen at Buckingham Palace and Princess Diana at Kensington Palace. He joined the Queen’s staff in 1982 before transferring to Diana’s staff in 1993. McGrady remained at Kensington Palace until Diana died in August 1997.

Queen Elizabeth stroking Candy, on of her corgi dogs, at Windsor Castle earlier this year. She used to feed scones to her pets, according to former royal chef Darren McGrady. Photo: Pool/AFP,

According to McGrady’s cookbook, scones were part of Queen Elizabeth’s daily tea service during his time at Buckingham Palace.