- I'm Darren McGrady, the Royal Chef,
former chef to the Queen, Princess Diana,
Prince William and Prince Harry,
and I'm going to be preparing
one of Prince William and Harry's
favorite dishes, cottage pie.
Cottage pie is a traditional nursery dish,
and it's been served by the Royal Family
for over 100 years.
William and Harry were seven and 10
when I started cooking for
them at Kensington Palace,
and they'd come in the
kitchen all the time.
If they saw me cooking this one,
they knew it was gonna be a fun lunch.
Cottage pie is just a
delicious combination
of the ground beef and the onions,
a little garlic, a little gravy browning,
salt and pepper, some flour to thicken,
and some nice broth in there as well.
That just simmers away,
and once that's done,
we put some mashed potatoes on the top,
finished off with a little
cheese, a little cilantro,
and it just makes the most incredible dish
that I prepared for the boys,
at least every time they came home.
William and Harry were in
the kitchen all the time,
whether it was to find
out what was for lunch,
or to just play hide and seek,
or just to come through and chat.
Sometimes they'd want to
come through and cook.
That was always a worrying experience,
but it was always fun
having the boys in the kitchen,
and although it was a royal palace,
they were royal children,
and just like normal children,
running around the house, having fun.
So I'm now adding some gravy browning
just to darken the meat
a little, and the sauce,
and then some garlic.
William and Harry are much different.
I remember Princess Diana
being in the kitchen one day,
and the the boys had just
been in, chatting away,
and the princess says,
"You know, the boys are so different.
"William's deep, like his father,
"and Harry is just an
airhead like me," yikes.
When the boys were bored,
they'd actually come and ask you
if they could cook in the kitchen, too.
One day, I was making stuffed
eggplant for Princess Diana,
and William says, "Oh, can I make that?"
I lifted it out of the
oven, put it on the table,
and he lifted it onto the plate.
Just as he did, Princess Diana
walked into the kitchen,
and he just twisted it like that,
and it just collapsed onto the plate.
It was like a train smash.
I said, "Oh, your Royal Highness,
"William's made you lunch."
Yikes, that was a mess.
When they stayed with
Princess Diana at Kensington,
it was a lot more relaxed,
and the princess would let them eat dinner
watching TV on a Saturday night.
That was always fun for them.
She wanted them to be royal princes,
but at the same time, she
wanted them to be children, too.
I think it was probably
a little bit more relaxed
when they were with mum.
So we want about five
minutes or so on that.
William and Harry really were good
when it came to whatever foods
we put on the table.
It was a balance, really,
of dishes that Nanny chose for them,
like the sort of roast chicken
and the green vegetables,
and then switch in, you know,
other days, too, things
like the cottage pie
and burgers and hot dogs.
They were pretty good.
They never really sort of
left lots of food at all.
They always made sure
there was room for pudding.
It was really funny cooking
at Kensington Palace
for William and Harry.
There was a constant battle going on
with Princess Diana and the nanny,
and Nanny always insisted
that the boys have their greens.
"They've got to have their cabbage,
"they've got to have their broccoli,"
and Princess Diana was,
"Oh, if they don't want that,
"they don't have to eat it.
"They can go straight to burgers
"and hot dogs and things like that,
"and if they want to skip that altogether,
"they can just have pudding, that's okay."
She was a real mum.
Then, before we put the
potatoes on the top,
this has to set for about 30
minutes in the refrigerator.
I have so many memories of my 15 years
with the Royal Family.
Seeing Princess Diana
come into the kitchen
with William and Harry,
just seeing a real family,
that's when she was happiest,
when she was in Kensington Palace
with her little boys,
just her and the boys.
They were such fun times,
seeing the boys growing up,
giving them the new experiences,
letting them sample different foods,
and seeing their faces
when they're trying
dishes for the first time,
watching them cook in the kitchen,
seeing Harry throw pasta at the wall
to see if it sticks,
'cause I told him that's
how you tell if it's cooked.
Happy memories at Kensington.
(relaxing music)
You don't normally have a relationship
or stay in contact with
members of the Royal Family
after you leave.
We're servants in the
kitchen to the Royal Family,
and they're just on a different level.
I send William and Harry
notes every now and again.
I sent them copies of my
cookbooks when they came out.
Hopefully they use them.
Prince Harry cooked
roast chicken for Meghan
when he was dating.
I think I showed him
how to do that recipe.
Delicious layer of ground beef,
creamy mashed potatoes on the top,
and I think that this was William
and Harry's favorite part,
that cheddar cheese sprinkled over the top
so that when it comes out of the oven,
it just runs and melts and goes all gooey
into the mashed potatoes.
What's not to like about cottage pie?
(relaxing music)
William and Harry were at school all week
and would come home odd weekends,
so this was a real treat
for them to come home to,
some steaming hot cottage pie
with that melted cheese on the top,
the potatoes running
into the pie mix there.
This was one of their favorites,
and if it wasn't on the menu,
they'd come in and say,
"Can we have cottage
pie, please, for dinner?"
(relaxing music)
