Darren McGrady – who was a personal chef to the Queen, Prince William, Prince Harry and the late Princess Diana for 15 years, has recently started his own YouTube channel.
The former royal staff member has been delighting fans with his stories of his time cooking for the Royal Family, including his memories of the late Princess Diana.
In conversation with HELLO! Canada, Darren shared a heartwarming story about the People’s Princess when discussing one of his favourite Mother’s Day recipes, as people around the world celebrated the special day.
When asked is making the dish brings back any memories of working in the royal kitchens on Mother’s Day, Mr McGrady shared a sweet story of how a young Harry and the Duke of Cambridge would treat their mother on the special day.
The chef revealed people’s princess was often generous to staff, ensuring they always had the time off to spend Mother’s Day with their families.
“She would go off to Windsor for the weekend, but often she would have eggs for breakfast.
“And with Princess Diana, Prince William and Prince Harry liked to cook so something like a frittata was an easy dish that they could make for the princess.
“One of the things I remember most about being at Kensington is that the princess would give her team the Sunday, Mother’s Day, off to go home and be with their families.
“And it was really thoughtful of her.
“On the weekends, each year for Mother’s Day, she would usually have the boys and they would just be there together and eat together and the princess would help the boys.”
Despite the Princes being very young at the time, they still managed to make a special effort to treat their mother with a special Mother’s Day dish.
He added: “Of course when I was there, the boys were still young so it wasn’t like they could prepare a three-, four-course meal.
“But, it was that special time for the princess and being with her boys on Mother’s Day.
“It was as much about she wanted us to spend time with our families as she wanted to be alone with her two boys on Mother’s Day, and it meant so much to her for the three of them just to eat together and be together.
“I used to leave food for them, but often they would all go in the kitchen together and spend time together and get meals throughout the day.
The royal chef isn’t the only one who likes to open up about the late Princess Diana.
Diana’s former bodyguard said Prince William was a cheeky young boy and once pranked his mother Princess Diana in the most outrageous way.
Ken Wharfe told the Daily Mail last year that William once pulled Diana’s towel off her so she was “totally naked” while he was in the room.
When he rebuked the young prince, William just told him: “I know Mummy likes you!”
However, Diana seemed to see the funny side as she just smiled.
Mr Wharfe said: “Being flirtatious was part of her style and certainly an incident at her mother’s house in Scotland involving William showed that he was aware of this.
“Diana had asked me if I wanted her to wash my shirts. I said, ‘No Ma’am, that’s ridiculous,’ but she said ‘no, I like washing’ so I threw a couple in.
“The next morning I came in and she was ironing my shirts.
“She was standing there with only a towel around her and William came in and said, ‘Oh, why are you doing Ken’s shirts?’ and pulled the towel off her.
“She was totally naked and I said, ‘William that was stupid.’ William said, ‘I know Mummy likes you.’ and I said ‘William, Mummy likes a lot of people. Let’s not do that.’”