- I'm Darren McGrady, the royal chef,
former chef to the Queen, Princess Diana,
Prince William, and Prince Harry.
I was chef to Princess
Diana for four years.
And I'm going to be making
one of her favorite recipes,
stuffed bell peppers.
I remember the first time
I met Princess Diana,
I was at Balmoral Castle
and I was working there
in the pastry kitchen.
And I was helping make some apple pies.
And the pastry chef was
across one side of the table.
And we were just chatting.
I looked up, and right behind
him was Princess Diana,
just stood there.
My face was a picture.
I was just.
I think "hello" and "goodbye"
is all I remember saying.
I was beet red, and just staring
at the princess, all the time.
Embarrassing.
When I joined Princess Diana,
she was a patron of 119
different charities,
working out at the gym three days a week,
looking the best she ever did,
she'd conquered and
confronted the bulimia,
and she said to me, "Darren,
you take care of all the fats,
"I'll take care of the carbs at the gym."
And my cooking changed.
No more heavy creams and rich sauces.
It was healthy eating like this one.
And the stuffed bell peppers
was one of her favorite dishes.
She probably had it two
or three times a week.
The princess didn't eat beef at all.
Occasionally, she'd have
lamb, if she was entertaining.
For the most part, it
was vegetarian dishes,
something like the stuffed bell pepper,
something like stuffed eggplant.
She'd also eat fish as well.
She loved eating fish,
especially rainbow trout.
And all of her food contained
sort of very little fats,
certainly no creams or
butters or anything like that.
Princess Diana didn't mind garlic, no,
so a little garlic in there was fine.
It was only the Queen, out of
all the royal family members,
the Queen was the only one
that we couldn't use garlic.
It always brings back happy
memories, cooking this dish.
The princess, when she
was on her own for lunch,
would come and eat in the kitchen.
And often, she'd come in
early because she was hungry.
And I'd be at this stage,
and I'd just be scared,
and she'd say, "Darren, what's for lunch?"
and I'd say, "Well, it's
not quite ready yet,
"Your Royal Highness,"
and she'd say, "Oh, that's
fine, I'll watch you cook."
Princess Diana sat
there, watching me cook.
When the princess came into
the kitchen, it was so relaxed.
One day she walked in, she
said, "Darren, I need a coffee.
"Oh, I'll make it, you're busy.
"Would you like one?"
There was Princess Diana,
making me a coffee.
It was so much more relaxed
in Kensington Palace.
I don't know that it was
a close relationship.
She was Her Royal Highness
and I was a servant,
I was just there to cook for her.
She did share too many stories,
when she use to come and sit
at the table in the kitchen.
We did the same menu
book for Princess Diana,
or at least we tried to.
The princess, though, never stuck to it.
The Queen, religious,
whatever you put on there,
three days ahead, she had.
Princess Diana, no way.
"I'm not in the mood for this
today, I don't want this,
"can I have liver and onions,
"can I have stuffed bell pepper?"
The menu book was a waste of time, really,
but we still had to do it.
When I was cooking for the princess,
we'd cook sometimes for
the princess on her own,
sometimes the boys would
be eating separate,
and then we'd have the
staff to cook for as well.
The princess only had a small
team, so that was fairly easy.
And most of the time, it was just
lots of different pasta dishes.
Sometimes they'd get the
stuffed bell peppers,
the same as the princess.
William and Harry, although
they were royal princes,
they still had children's palates.
So I had to fool them a
little bit when I'm cooking.
For example, when I did roast
chicken for William and Harry,
they loved the potatoes where
they could bite into them
and all that fat would run down your chin,
so good, so rich, so much fat.
Princess Diana, I'd take
a breast of chicken off,
pull of the skin on the outside, slice it,
and then for her roast
potatoes, take some potatoes,
toss them in egg whites,
and also a little paprika,
and so dry bake them, and then
no fat in there whatsoever.
When they came to eating,
William and Harry had
their chicken and roast potatoes,
but Princess Diana was healthy
eating on the other side.
The stuffed bell peppers were filled with
all the goodies that she
liked, zucchini, the mushrooms,
and then some rice, just carbs,
to help her through the day.
A little mozzarella in there, too,
and of course, some Parmesan cheese.
Finishing that with a
smoked tomato pepper sauce
made it a really nice, healthy dish.
I think if any misconception,
it was that the princess didn't like food.
She did, she conquered that bulimia,
and she got her life back on track.
She was just looking amazing,
and she'd gone into the
real healthy eating.
She was doing juicing and things, I think,
before juicing had even been invented.
It was real healthy eating, she
stayed on top of all of that
and she said, "Go and get me some of this,
"go and get me some of that,"
things I'd never heard of,
so it kept me on my toes, too.
You know, when we say, Princess Diana,
she wasn't into food, she
was, but healthy food.
So I have a smoked tomato sauce
that I serve with this dish
that would go on the bottom
and the pepper sits on top.
So when you cut into it, it
just all runs in together.
And this was one of the
princess's favorites, too.
Just a little smoke in there,
the tomatoes were grown
in the gardens locally,
so this was a perfect accompaniment.
Brings back so many happy
memories, preparing this dish.
Every time, I think about the princess,
sat there at the table, me
asking her how the day went.
And for me, those fun
times of seeing her there,
with Prince William and Harry,
Harry and William hiding in the kitchen
and the princess looking for the boys.
They were such special memories,
being with the princess.
