What All the Royals Actually Eat in a Day
What All the Royals Actually Eat in a Day
Prince William and Harry are taken—fine—but there's still hope for those trying to live their lives as royally as possible. Your first order of business: Overhauling your diet. Here's what a bunch of royals actually consume in a day. Some of these may surprise you; the Queen, for example, drinks up to four alcoholic beverages on an average day! (Clearly, she's doing something right—here's more on her healthy habits that keep her looking so young at 93!)
Meghan Markle loves wine.
Sure, yes, don't we all, etc., but she actually told Delish pre-Harry that vino is one of her vices. She of course loves Tignanello so much she named her now-defunct lifestyle site after it, but noted "in the summer, though, when I'm out with my friends, it's rosé all day."
She's big on water first thing in the morning.
Hot water with lemon, specifically. On shoot days for her show Suits, she'd follow that up with steel-cut oatmeal with bananas.
She might green juice, if she's feeling it.
Meghan will do the green juice thing if she's feeling peckish, but she noted "green juice is a food-as-medicine philosophy for me." It's certainly not her favorite.
She's not opposed to further snacking.
If all the above doesn't cut it, she's really into almonds as a healthy and filling snack.
She has a delicious a?aí bowl recipe.
Before marrying into the royal family, the California native shared her go-to a?aí bowl recipe with the cooking blog Eye Swoon. Spoiler: She tops her bowl off with coconut flakes, fresh berries, sliced bananas, manuka honey, and bee pollen.
![Hiatus from filming meant "all bets [were] off."](https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/vD4Awa33Vo3KbZYr79zMoQ--/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTk2MDtoPTY0MA--/https://media.zenfs.com/en/hearst_prevention_66/5a60dd08090371fa1529663a8e138aaa)
Hiatus from filming meant "all bets [were] off."
"I'm always hoping I'm having lunch with people, so we can share fries. It's its own food group for me," Meghan said. Yes. The Duchess loves her some French fries whenever she can get her hands on them. Stars: They're just like us!
If fries don't cut it, she'll make poutine.
Having spent years in Canada shooting Suits, Meghan mastered poutine. Mozz is not the way to top it all off, she said. "It's got to squeak when you bite into it. Really. The cheese curds should make a squeaking noise when you bite into them or squeeze them. That's how you know you've got the right kind."
Dinner is generally lighter fare.
If she goes all in on lunch, she's usually "peckish" around dinner time. She named soup as a usual option for later in the day.
Mac and Cheese is one of her go-tos.
She's a grill master.
The Duchess likes steak. In fact, her little-known steak hack is to squeeze lemon all up on the meat right before serving: "It really brings out the steak's flavor."
And is an excellent baker.
While on an official royal tour in Dubbo, Australia, Meghan baked a loaf of delicious-looking banana bread for her and Harry's hosts. According to reporter Rebecca English, the loaf had chocolate chips and a touch of ginger in it.
She's cut one staple from her rotation.
Nope, the Duchess isn't allowed to have garlic anymore, especially not ahead of royal visits. That's because (1) it's not really nice to have bad breath, per royal protocol and (2) the Queen just hates it.
Camilla doesn't follow that rule, though!
Maybe it's that she's been thoroughly immersed in #RoyalLiving for a lot longer than Meghan has, but the Duchess of Cornwall reportedly loves spicy and garlic-laden foods, eating them whenever she can.
Meghan's still the queen of avocado toast.
The Duchess of Sussex has brought some of her California roots with her across the pond. The internet went crazy when her visiting friend, Daniel Martin, shared an Instagram of the avocado toast she served with tea.
Oh, and she's pretty much gluten free.
Though she is 100-percent down to try pasta in new places, she pointed to going gluten free as what really helped her skin start glowing.
RELATED: Exactly What Happens to Your Body When You Give Up Gluten
Meghan heavily influences Harry's new food routine.
He reportedly swore off pizza—a staple of his lil royal life!—long before the wedding. He's also said to have cut out carbs almost entirely, at least leading up to his wedding.
Roasted chicken is one of her specialties.
Perhaps it was Ina Garten's recipe for roast chicken, of which Meghan has called "a game-changer," that sealed the deal with Prince Harry. After all, the royal couple said they ate this meal the night they got engaged.
She, too, dieted ahead of her wedding.
Kate reportedly stuck to a super high protein, low carb regimen before her 2011 wedding to William. It's unclear if Kate still maintains this routine, but she was said to be super strict with it around that time.
She loves holiday food.
And she's really crazy about traditional family recipes.
And makes her grandmother's recipes at Christmas.
For her first Christmas as a new member of the royal family, Kate Middleton gifted the Queen a jar of homemade chutney, and attached her grandmother's recipe with it. How sweet?
She looks to raw foods to lose weight.
Post-Princess Charlotte, Kate supposedly turned to a more fruit- and vegetable-forward routine. She was said to be super into ceviche, goji berries, gazpacho, watermelon salad, almond milk, and tabbouleh after giving birth, not only because it was delish, but also because it helped her lose the weight she wanted to get rid of.
She's never mad about dessert.
Again, she's really into holiday foods, meaning come time for Christmas feasting, she's all about the cakes and pastries and batches of other sweet stuff that's involved. Yes, Kate!
Nor does she shy away from gaining weight the healthy way.
Kate famously battled hyperemesis gravidarum during her pregnancies, which made it incredibly difficult for her to gain the weight needed to sustain herself. During those periods, she constantly turned to meals filled with healthy fats, like avocados, berries, and oatmeal.
She loves to try new things.
Of geoduck, she said, "It's really unusual. I've never seen it before. It's so fresh from the sea."
She admits she's not the best cook.
At a gala in 2016, Kate joked to guests, "William has to put up with my cooking most of the time." To which the Prince responded, "It's the reason I'm so skinny." At least she can laugh about it?!
Tea comes with a side, as well.
She's really into a jam roly-poly or sticky toffee pudding accompaniment, for example. Yas, Kate, yas.
Princess Charlotte is crazy about olives.
On a visit to the Lavender Primary School, Kate revealed the young royal's rather unusual favorite food: olives.
Prince George loves Italian food.
According to reports from Hello! magazine, Kate told a young girl from Victoria about Prince George's favorite cuisine: "Kate asked me what I like to do and I told her cooking. She asked me what and I said Italian like pizza and pasta and she said George loves that."
And the Cambridge children love to cook with mom.
Matthew Kleiner-Mann, chief executive of the Ivy Learning Trust, told royal reporters that Kate shared with him how much her children love cooking.
Prince Charles starts every day with a 4-minute egg.
For breakfast, the Prince of Wales enjoys an egg cooked precisely for four minutes (from his chicken coop, we presume), along with a cup of Darjeeling tea with milk and honey.
Prince Charles likes cheese—as long as it's local.
The Prince, who favors organic foods, is a big fan of local cheeses, according to his wife Camilla. "He's a huge cheese fan. Anything to do with cheese, he'll love," she told Master Chef Gary Mehigan.
Princess Anne's favorite food is very traditional.
It may seem simple, but Princess Anne is said to love a classic fish and chips—although she only enjoys the pub fare once in a while.
The Queen is a big fan of mangoes.
"She could tell you how many mangoes were in the fridge at Buckingham Palace," the Queen's former chef, John Higgins, told the National Post.
As well as Caribbean food.
Apparently, Queen Elizabeth became a huge fan of Caribbean cuisine after a group of visiting fellows from the Caribbean Scholars Program cooked for her in the palace. "The callaloo soup was an absolute sensation. I had email after email telling me that it must now feature more regularly," Royal chef Mark Flanagan told Express.
She starts her day with tea. Always.
The Queen's go-to blend? English Breakfast, of course! And with tea comes cookies biscuits.
And has the same breakfast each day.
A bowl of corn flakes and a cup of English Breakfast tea, according to former chef, Darren McGrady. "The Queen loved scrambled eggs with smoked salmon and a grating of truffle. But she was too frugal to ever order fresh truffles and only really enjoyed them at Christmas when the truffles were sent as a gift," McGrady told The Telegraph.
Then the drinking commences.
Pre-lunch is when Lilibet gets into her first drink of the day, which is typically a wine-based aperitif. Afterward, she'll typically have a fish and some veggies for lunch. No starch, though. No starch almost ever!
High tea is also always a must.
That typically features two kinds of sandwiches: a sweet one and a savory one. And, you know, maybe a drink.
But the Queen has a specific request for her sandwiches.
The Queen prefers her sandwiches to be served with the crust sliced off. "A chef told me off for serving the sandwiches with crusts. He then showed me how to make the perfect tuna sandwich: cutting the loaf lengthways, buttering both sides, adding the tuna-mayonnaise mixture and thinly sliced cucumber, with a crack of pepper. He then folded over the two lengths, removed the crusts and cut eight identical triangles. The Palace kitchen was all about the detail,” said former Palace staffer Owen Hodgson told The Telegraph.
Dinner and dessert follow.
Though the protein may vary, the Queen sticks to the same meat-and-veggies format for the most part (with the meat very well done, always). She also requires dark chocolate—in almost any form—for dessert. It's her absolute favorite food.
Oh, and don't forget the champagne.
It comes after dessert and caps off her four-drink quota per day.
Prince Philip is always mixing it up.
He's long been known as the family's most adventurous eater, no matter where he is.
He loves to barbecue at Balmoral Castle.
The royal family's vacation hime in Balmoral is known as their oasis from royal duties. The Queen and Prince Philip spend the majority of their summer on the Scottish estate, and when they do, one of the Prince's favorite pastimes is throwing some sausages on the grill.
He's never been into organic foods, though.
The royal family's former chef Darren McGrady told Marie Claire Philip would always scoff at Prince Charles's organic choices:
We always used to get a hamper [full of food and treats] from Harrods — a thank you gift for shopping with them. Prince Philip came into the kitchen and there were two hampers. He said, 'Oh, is this a Harrods hamper?" I said, 'No, your highness, this is a hamper the Prince of Wales brought with him.' He looked puzzled so I opened it up and I said, 'It's all organic.' And he said, 'Oh, bloody organic!' And just shook his head and walked out.
William and Harry used to be all about fast food.
Though McGrady also noted Princess Diana was the healthiest eater of the royal bunch, he said it was important to her that William and Harry could just "be boys." That meant lots of McDonald's throughout their childhood. It was their absolute fav.
And had a favorite dessert, as well.
According to the personal chef for Princess Diana, he always knew when Prince William and Harry would be joining the late Princess for dinner, because she would add banana flan to the menu for dessert.
The whole family has a sweet tooth.
According to Buckingham Palace's former chef, the dessert that was always the biggest crowd-pleaser with the royal family is chocolate mousse. The sweet treat would ensure that "the plates were clean when they came back from the royal family," John Higgins told the National Post.
Their Christmas meal is steeped in tradition.
After attending their Christmas Day church service, the royal family enjoys a traditional Christmas meal at Sandringham Estate, featuring roast turkey, mashed potatoes, and Brussels sprouts, followed by a Christmas pudding, according the former royal chef Darren McGrady.
Meghan Markle's go-to breakfast, Kate Middleton's pre-wedding diet, and more!