Queen Elizabeth had a simple approach to food, and in her nineties, still enjoyed the same “jam penny” sandwiches she ate as a school girl. While she had a love for British classics, former royal chef Darren McGrady revealed that King Charles enjoys one particular cuisine more than his late mother.
In a video on his YouTube channel, the former Kensington Palace and Buckingham Palace chef shared a recipe for a mushroom risotto that he served to The King—and revealed His Majesty’s fondness for Italian food.
“Now King Charles has a different palate to his mother,” McGrady said. “The Queen was very much into traditional French cuisine and British comfort food. But King Charles really, really likes Italian cuisine and especially this dish, risotto.”
The King and Queen Camilla are both avid mushroom hunters and are famously competitive over the hobby, and McGrady recalled a time when Charles invited him into the woods with a famous chef.
While preparing his risotto in the video, McGrady said that “King Charles preferred this classic dish with wild mushrooms” and would go out foraging for them himself, especially at Balmoral Castle.
“He would love to go foraging up there for the wild mushrooms on the estate,” the chef shared. “I remember one time he invited Antonio Carluccio, one of the most amazing Italian chefs who really knew his mushrooms, and I got to go out with them.”
As for the late Queen, she wasn't known to be a connoisseur of Italian food, and in a 2020 interview with Us Weekly, McGrady said that Queen Elizabeth “never had pizza.” “I didn't start cooking pizza until I moved across to Kensington Palace,” he added.
