<p id=”par-1_38″>We know working members of the royal family have chefs on hand to cook their meals so there’s no need for them to try and make their own meals, but some have and the results were disastrous. </p>
<p id=”par-2_41″>Darren McGrady was a chef at Buckingham Palace for more than a decade, cooking for <a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/news/queen-elizabeth-ii-dead-british-monarch-dies-96.html/”>Queen Elizabeth II</a>, Prince Philip, and others. He was later transferred to Kensington Palace, where he worked as Princess Diana’s personal chef up until <a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/news/can-remember-when-princess-diana-died.html/”>her death in 1997</a>. </p>
<h2 class=”wp-block-heading” id=”h-former-chef-recalls-princess-diana-trying-to-cook-and-the-fire-department-had-to-be-called”>Former chef recalls Princess Diana trying to cook and the fire department had to be called </h2>
<p id=”par-3_23″>During an interview on <a href=”https://7news.com.au/the-morning-show/former-royal-chef-darren-mcgrady-reveals-princess-diana-nearly-burnt-down-the-palace-kitchen-c-518023″ target=”_blank” rel=”noreferrer noopener”>Australia’s <em>The Morning Show</em></a>, McGrady revealed that Princess Diana almost caused a catastrophe when she tried to cook for herself before.</p>
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<p id=”par-4_46″>“The princess was the worst cook ever,” McGrady said as he recalled a story Diana told him about the time she “nearly burned down the palace.” According to McGrady, Kensington Palace could have gone up in flames when Diana tried cooking for a friend one night.</p>
<p id=”par-5_70″>“One day, the princess invited her friend over, and she was in the kitchen cooking pasta and a tomato sauce,” the former royal chef explained. “They got chatting away, the pasta boiled over, and put out the pilot light. They went to eat their food, and later the princess came back into the kitchen and she could smell gas. It was from the pilot light. So she called the palace fire brigade.”</p>
<p id=”par-6_60″>The day after, when McGrady got to work, Diana relayed the story to him and made a cheeky remark about the firefighters who arrived, saying, “Monday morning she came and said to me, ‘Darren, you won’t believe what happened to me. I nearly set the kitchen on fire. But the best part was, I had 12 hunky firemen to myself.’”</p>
<h2 class=”wp-block-heading” id=”h-were-there-any-kitchen-disasters-when-cooking-big-holiday-meals-for-the-royals”>Were there any kitchen disasters when cooking big holiday meals for the royals?</h2>
<p id=”par-7_28″>When speaking to <a href=”https://www.smoothspins.co.uk/” target=”_blank” rel=”noreferrer noopener”>Smooth Spins Casino</a>, McGrady was asked if any disasters occurred over the years while he and the other trained chefs were in the kitchen. </p>
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<p id=”par-8_101″>“Not at all,” he responded, before adding, “Nothing was allowed to go wrong — everything had to be prepared ahead. We did the same menu year on year, and the same recipes. We knew how much we needed to feed them. All the food came in ahead of time … All the food came in way ahead of time, even down to the fruit bowls on the tables. We would pick the perfect pears that were just ripe and perfect, just beautiful. Nothing at all went wrong — everything was perfectly planned and laid out. It was business as usual.”</p>
<p id=”par-9_70″>The chef also discussed how the food for the royals’ holiday feast made it to them safely, telling Showbiz Cheat Sheet, “If you’ve seen the movie <em>Spencer</em>, you’ll see the army deliver all the food in the boxes and hampers, which is what happened. Several days before Christmas, we’d send in an advance team to Sandringham, who would open up the kitchen and clean it so it was spotless. </p>
<p id=”par-10_84″>“They would be there for the arrival to check in all of the food — the Norfolk turkeys would come in from the local butcher, all the local fish would come in. When it came to the equipment and Christmas puddings, cakes, and all of that, that was packed carefully and driven up in army transportation. The soldiers would bring it all into the kitchen, so we were all prepared for it. Every year it was like a military operation, so nothing went wrong.”</p>