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UK ABOUT THE ROYAL FAMILY ITV News: What it takes to prepare a Royal state banquet The role of Darren McGrady is key to success! PLAY YOUTUBE VIDEO Original article: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=678bFW5LYh0
What it takes to prepare a Royal state banquet \| ITV News ITV News Jul 8, 2025 2.03M subscribers ... 33,270 views ... 533 likes Emmanuel Macron is the latest of many world leaders to be hosted by the King and Queen for a Royal state banquet - but what goes on behind the scenes to pull off one of the most high-profile dinners? One person who knows a lot about that is Darren McGrady, who for 15 years served as a royal chef to Queen Elizabeth, as well as the likes of Princess Diana, Prince William, and Prince Harry. • Subscribe to ITV News on YouTube: http://bit.ly/2lOHmNj • Get breaking news and more stories at http://www.itv.com/news Follow ITV News on TikTok https://www.tiktok.com/@itvnews?lang=en Follow ITV News on Instagram: / itvnews Follow ITV News on Facebook: / itvnews Follow ITV News on X: / itvnews Peter Burgess COMMENTARY Many years ago, when I was the CFO of Continental Saefoods ... an American company operationg commercial fishing vessels in about 20 countries around the world ... our British management team in the Cote d'Ivoire were invited to a reception at the British Embassy. I was in Abidjan at the time, and was included in the invitation. It turned out that Prince Charles was visiting ... and a few 'Brits' were needed for an Embassy reception. It was an interesting event, and I was impressed by the Prince! I had been a 'fan' of Prince Charles for a very long time. Frankly, I was impressed by his judgement in the face of a lot of difficult 'push back'. I cannot say the same for Princess Diana. The issues Prince Charles cared about had substance. The same really cannot be said for Princess Diana. Peter Burgess Transcript 0:00 [Music] They have for decades formed the grand centerpiece of state visits to the UK. Emanuel Macron, the latest of many world leaders to be hosted by the king and queen for a royal state banquet. The cameras are allowed in to capture a little bit of the pomp and ceremony, but what we don't often see is what goes on behind the scenes to deliver some of the world's most high profile and possibly even high stress dinners. Well, one person who knows a lot about that is Darren McGrady, who for 15 years served as a royal chef to Queen Elizabeth II, as well as the likes of Princess Diana, Prince William, and Prince Harry. Welcome, Darren. Thank you very much for agreeing to pull aside the curtain a little bit if you like to describe what the pressure preparations are like. How 1:01 far in advance do you start getting ready for a state dinner? There were uh I was 11 years at Buckingham Palace and uh over those 11 years I uh worked many state banquetss including president meter of France in 1984. Uh there's so much pressure that goes into preparing everything just to make it right. Everything's got to be right. we're representing the queen or the king and so um all of the food orders will have been done so far ahead of the time. Uh when I worked for the queen, we would actually send four different menus up to her and she would choose the one that she wanted and it was always sort of local and indigenous produce foods that that would showcase uh the UK. The queen was always said to have had simple tastes where food was concerned. She liked the basics done well, done beautifully. What were her favorite sort of dishes? So for the queen, she loved to use anything from uh the estate. Now estate 2:00 banquet is difficult because you know you have over 150 people there and it's difficult to bring all that produce in uh whether it's you know venison from Sandringham or grass from Balmoral or something. Uh but um I do think that um the the queen loved chocolate. She was a choahholic. anything chocolate we put on the menu. She would always pass and make sure that was on the menu. For a state banquet, it was often ice cream and I think it's pretty hot in that room. Uh so ice cream was just perfect. Now King Charles is not a great lover of chocolate, so don't expect chocolate on the menu. Uh but he does love lamb and he does love local produce. Uh so I can see lamb being on the menu if the menu's not been released. Nowadays all sorts of people have different requirements don't they for food allergies and so on intolerances what sort of things change depending on the guest and how flexible are you able to be 3:01 one of the things we were lucky to have when I worked for the queen was there were no changes to the menu at all and there were no gluten-free no lactose intolerance no vegetarians no vegans and we just did the same menu. If you didn't like it, then you stop for a burger on the way home. Just push it around on the plane. Nowadays, I think uh the king is much more relaxed on that. Uh but in the old days, it was fantastic. We just did the same menu for everyone. In the olden days, it used to be all kind of roasted swan and things like that, didn't it? Presumably, things have changed since those days, but could you walk us through a a typical banquet menu? what sort of dishes would have been uh uh presented to people? Yeah. Well, uh roasted swan was on the menu, but now you're going back to Queen Victoria and I don't I know I look old, but I'm not quite that old. Uh so, um yes, it was um lots of lots of beef on 4:01 the menu because, you know, that's just easy to prepare. Uh venison still on the menu, too. Uh but normally the courses uh you would start off with uh a compound salad course um maybe an asparagus moose uh smoked salmon terine or something like that. Then go into uh the main course the entree um which would be um venison or beef uh with all the side dishes and everything to go with it. uh then into pudding and I know we got uh President Trump coming to the state visit and that's difficult because over here in the United States pudding is dessert. Dessert is pudding. Uh whereas for the royal family pudding is the sweet course after the main course. After that it's then dessert and dessert is actually fresh fruit and that's all out on the table. So everyone gets to have fresh fruit dessert after the meal. Four courses. It must have been quite nerve-wracking, wasn't it? Did you have any disasters? 5:03 No, absolutely not. Not when I was working there. No, everything's run military precision. The timings and everything uh are just run to perfection. And if you think about it, a lot of the chefs have been there for years anyway. Uh the staff, too. And so, uh the timings, they know exactly what's going to happen. And it's very rare for a state banquet to run over. Um, and I think the Queen's Page and and the King's Page are stood right behind them, and they're keeping track of timing and everything else. And all the food goes up to a little rooms either side um of where the banquet is, and and all the sourcing and everything else is just finished last minute. So any hiccups or anything, none of the guests see, and certainly the king doesn't. These were the big occasions, obviously, the big state occasions we're talking about, but you were the late Queen's personal chef, weren't you? What was a typical day like looking after her? It was never a typical day for the queen 6:00 because, you know, one day it could be a state banquet. Uh the next day she could be over at Windsor Castle uh with just on her own or um with the Duke of Edinburgh. Uh and so, you know, people think that the queen uh or the king now um would eat, you know, lobster fuagra and caviar every day, and that's not the case. uh as you mentioned earlier, it is a lot of simple foods. Yes, of course, when they're entertaining, the same as when we entertain, uh it's the more lavish foods. Uh but dayto-day, um it's dishes like we eat at home. It's dishes like mashed potato. Mashed potato that has, you know, the perfect amount of butter and cream and salt and pepper and a twist of nutmeg in there. It's every single component cooked to perfection. Uh so for the queen often it would just be a salad for lunch with some grilled fish uh and a light meal during the day. And that's why I think she stayed so healthy and lived a a very long and and healthy 7:01 life, didn't she? To to a great age. Was there ever a a request that surprised you that that perhaps even you weren't weren't able to fulfill? um whatever the royal family wanted um that's what we were there to prepare. And again, as you mentioned, the queen wasn't a real foodie. Um she ate to live rather than live to eat. So, um it really was uh sticking with the more traditional dishes. U whether it was sort of ice cream uh for dinner or something like that. uh any food from off the estate. There was never anything um that the queen would then come in and say, 'Oh, yes, let's I found this recipe. Uh I've been on Google and found this recipe.' Um and you know, let's try this. It was uh the more traditional dishes that we did. Now, King Charles is uh more adventurous with his food. He was into organic food long before it even became organic, I think. and he 8:01 would always arrive at Sandringham at Windsor at Balmoral with all this organic produce. So he's more of a foodie and uh whether it's sort of foraging for mushrooms at Balmoral on the estate or uh bringing in lots of Italian foods like pastas and risotto and things I think you know he's more of the foodie. Things change I guess things move on don't they? Just pull aside the the green bays door for a moment here. What will be the atmosphere like in the Buckingham Palace kitchens right now? What's going to be going on? What are they going to be doing? So, it's pretty much same old same old. And that sounds boring, but it's another state banquet in the kitchens. And it doesn't matter. And you know, if it's France, if it's Spain, if it's Portugal, if it's the USA, uh the chefs are trained to do their jobs and work in sections. It's called the party system. Each chef has a certain role to play. And all the timings are super important. The footmen are down there waiting for 9:01 that phone call to uh take up the next course. You have chefs waiting upstairs with the sauce, ready to sort over last minute, add any garnishes or anything like that. Uh and and and everything does run literally to military precision. Now, you worked at Bucken Palace all those years. I'm sure people ask you about this the whole time, don't they? But what is your outstanding memory? What was the queen like? What was it like to be working for her majesty in Buckingham Palace? I have so many memories working for the royal family, working for the queen and of course with Princess Diana too. Um, you know, whether it was with the Queen being on the Royal Yacht Britannia sailing into Miami with a huge flotilla of boats all around us, honking horns, the Royal Marines band on the top deck, uh, playing a life on the ocean wave, the sailors in the number one uniform around the waist, and me in the Royal Galley preparing a sule oong fu, cold 10:00 lemon soule uh, for the queen for President Reagan and President Ford uh, and General Schwarzoff who was being kned for his part in the Gulf. before, but at the same time, uh, being at Wood Farm in Sandringham and just me being there and cooking for the queen and her just popping her head through the door and saying, 'Thank you. That was a lovely meal.' That just meant so much to me more than any medal or reward or anything. Lots of happy memories. Darren McGrady, thank you so much. My pleasure.

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