The good news is January is nearly over, but the bad news is that chilly mornings aren’t going away anytime soon. Cozy breakfasts are the best way to start the grey, dreary days, and it seems that Princess Kate and Queen Camilla agree. The two royal women both love a comforting bowl of porridge to start their day, and the simple bowl of nourishment is perfect for winter mornings.
In Robert Jobson’s book, Catherine, The Princess of Wales, he reported that “Catherine is said to favour slow-burn energy oats for breakfast,” referring to rolled oats that are higher in fiber. Princess Kate’s sister, Pippa Middleton, revealed in an interview with iNews that she has always loved a warm bowl of oatmeal. As children, they enjoyed breakfasts that consisted of “lots of porridge or boiled eggs with soldiers,” although the princess’s younger sister now prefers “plain yogurt with chopped fruit and toasted seeds, oats and nuts.”
Pippa Middleton shares her breakfast tastes with Princess Diana, who loved a nourishing overnight oat recipe. "She actually went to a Swiss health clinic, and there she had these overnight oats," former royal chef Darren McGrady revealed. McGrady said the late princess’s go-to breakfast was “actually called bircher muesli, they were invented by a Swiss nutritionist."
Oats must be the most royal breakfast of choice, because Queen Camilla loves them, too. Tom Parker Bowles, The Queen’s son, revealed that “in winter, my mother eats porridge every day.” In his book, Cooking and the Crown: Royal recipes from Queen Victoria to King Charles III, Parker Bowles shared that The Queen likes her porridge “plain, aside from a little of her own honey.” The Queen keeps several active beehives, but she “gives most of her honey to Fortnum & Mason, where it is sold in special jars, with all proceeds going to one of her charities,” her son revealed. “It’s delicate and mild, as fine stirred into a good Darjeeling tea as it is mixed with porridge or yoghurt.” Now that sounds like a divine breakfast.
Princess Kate may very well take her porridge the same way, as she is also an avid beekeeper. During a 2021 visit to the Natural History Museum, Princess Kate brought along a jar of honey from her beehives. “This came specially from my beehive,” she told the group of children. “Every time you see a bee, say thank you so much because they make delicious honey.”
Based on this, we can add rolled oats and royal honey to next week's meal plan to keep the winter blues away.
