King Charles, Princess Kate & more royals who overhauled their childhood diets
From fussy eating to health-conscious, royals such as Prince William and Prince Harry have overhauled their diets over the years.
As children, rich, chocolate treats and processed foods were their top priority, but they have been replaced with a nutrient-rich menu cooked at home. Join us as we explore the changing taste buds of the Princess of Wales, the Duchess of Sussex and more royals…
Prince William
Royal chef Darren McGrady revealed there was one thing off the menu for young Prince William and Prince Harry.
"I’ve certainly never seen packaged food with any of the royal babies," he told TODAY.com. "Why would they buy packaged food when the queen has 20 personal chefs?"
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Homemade purees made from chicken and vegetables were served as starters, followed by steamed apples and pears for dessert. As they grew older, they were eventually swapped for comfort meals – but they weren't always healthy.
"They liked comfort food dishes. They loved banana flan, anything with banana really, banana ice cream. They loved things like mixed grills, burgers, pizza, spaghetti and meatballs, chicken and cream chicken sauce... They were royal children but they still had children's palates."
And what's one thing that many children struggle to eat? Vegetables. While William now often chooses to eat healthy vegetarian meals – including vegetable kebabs and lentil curry with his wife Kate – Darren admitted he had to be bribed to eat veggies as a child.
One of his favourite dishes was crispy skin-on chicken with mac and cheese, but when their nanny was in the house, the trade-off was one floret of broccoli for every piece of chicken!
The royal's late mother Princess Diana reportedly loved fish, but raw seafood is one of the few dishes that the royal family tend to avoid at public events due to the risk of food poisoning.
This unspoken rule didn't stop William from enjoying sushi at Japan House London. While eating some salmon sashimi, he said: "Thank you very much. My wife and I love sushi. We might have to come down here for lunch when no one else is in."
Kate has confessed she loves spicy food, but William joked he can't handle curries as hot as his wife. It's not surprising considering Queen Camilla's son Tom Parker Bowles revealed Camilla and Charles don't tend to eat chilli, so the monarch likely didn't request it on the family menu when William was growing up.
Tom once said: "I like chilli and spice and garlic. And [Charles and Camilla] come from a generation where they don't really like chilli." See more foods the royals avoid at all costs...
Kate Middleton
Carole Middleton admitted she has always loved to grow vegetables at home, so we imagine her daughter the Princess of Wales' diet was filled with fresh, homegrown produce.
In an interview with Saga magazine, she said she digs for spuds, carrots, beetroot and onions.
"There’s no better way to encourage healthy eating than to allow your grandchildren to see how food is grown and let them pick their own," she added.
Raw fruit and vegetables such as goji berries and olives have long been Kate's go-to snacks. While visiting children at Great Ormond Street Hospital in 2018, she revealed to a four-year-old patient: "I used to eat lots and lots of olives when I was little as well."
Kate was previously spotted buying Haribo from the Peaches Spar store in her home village of Bucklebury, but it's not known whether she still enjoys the occasional sugary snack.
While it is not surprising that Kate has carried largely healthy eating habits into adulthood, she has swapped up her breakfast routine.
Her sister Pippa told the i newspaper their typical breakfast as children was: "Almost everything, but lots of porridge or boiled eggs with soldiers." Now, she prefers a green smoothie including spirulina and kale.
Meghan Markle
Meghan Markle appears to have adopted many of her mother Doria Ragland's eating habits.
Back in 2012, the former Suits actress told Today: "At the start of each week, I generally cook a box of quinoa, and while it's simmering, I saute onions, garlic and any veggies I have on hand in a separate pan.
"I season the vegetables with a seasoning blend my mum always used when I was growing up. I always add crushed red pepper and chopped fresh herbs.
"Toss this veggie mixture into the finished quinoa and eat it as a side dish, poured on top of a kale salad, or as an easy snack."
Prince Harry's wife also cooks a mix of American, British and Filipino dishes. The Duchess told Today: "I am a big fan of Sunday suppers. Whether we're eating lamb tagine, pot roast or a hearty soup, the idea of gathering for a hearty meal with friends and family on a Sunday makes me feel comforted.
"I enjoy making slow-cooked food on Sundays, like Filipino-style chicken adobo. It's so easy - combine garlic, soy (or Bragg Liquid Aminos), vinegar, maybe some lemon and let the chicken swim in that sauce until it falls off the bone in a Crock-Pot."
Meanwhile, she liked to cook mac and cheese with peas when she was babysitting, and she was cooking a Sunday roast when Harry proposed.
Prince Harry
Known for his partying lifestyle, Harry's former diet featured alcohol and processed food.
Since marrying Meghan and moving to Montecito, he has prioritised his wellness and adopted a healthier lifestyle.
Harry's friend told Vanity Fair: "Harry used to love lying in, but he’s up super early with Meghan, and the first thing he says he does is a workout, then he has a green juice."
While royal chefs said he grew up craving foods high in salt and sugar, Harry's kids Archie and Lilibet have healthy diets.
In the CBS documentary Meghan and Harry Plus One, Meghan’s makeup artist friend Daniel Martin told Gayle King: "I’m sure [Archie is] going to be raised clean and green. Meghan loves to cook – eating organic whenever she can." This is something that has rubbed off on Harry.
The Duke and his young family appear to have found healthy alternatives to popular sugary breakfast foods. In an interview with James Corden on The Late Late Show, he said: "Interestingly, my grandmother asked us what Archie wanted for Christmas and Meg said a waffle maker, she sent us a waffle maker for Archie…so breakfast now, Meg makes up a beautiful organic mix, in the waffle maker, flip it, out it comes, he loves it.
"Archie literally wakes up in the morning and says 'waffle.'"
King Charles
King Charles grew up enjoying three to four meals per day – breakfast, lunch, afternoon tea and dinner – but he famously ditched lunch for several years.
Clarence House released a list of 70 facts for the King's 70th birthday which stated: "The Prince does not eat lunch."
However, his diet has now changed in the wake of his cancer diagnosis. According to a report in MailOnline, the King has been encouraged by Queen Camilla, his doctors, and aides that he must start eating lunch to keep his strength up.
The monarch is said to be "reluctant" and has compromised by eating half an avocado at lunchtime.
His preferences have long included fresh produce grown at Highgrove and game such as grouse and pheasant.
When he guest edited Country Life magazine, he said: "I invented a grouse one recently, Coq au Vin with Grouse, as well as Moussaka with Grouse (it doesn’t always have to be lamb), in other words Groussaka!"
However, the King occasionally swaps meats for a plant-based diet to reduce his carbon footprint. He told the BBC in 2021: "For years I haven’t eaten meat and fish on two days a week and I don’t eat dairy products on one day a week."
While eggs are reportedly a favourite of Charles', from cheesy baked eggs for breakfast to coddled eggs with his salad, his former press secretary Julian Payne denied that they played a big part in his diet. He told The Mirror he "never saw a single boiled egg at breakfast in all the years I worked there."
Queen Camilla
Queen Camilla starts her day with a bowl of porridge with honey, yoghurt, or scrambled eggs followed by chicken broth or smoked salmon for lunch, according to her son Tom Parker Bowles.
The light meal is surprising since Tom admitted that his mother cooked hearty meals when he was a child.
Cooking and the Crown author Tom added that some of Queen Camilla's staple dishes were shepherd's pie or roast chicken for dinner.
In terms of snacks, Tom admitted the family would eat "peas from the garden, strawberries from the garden" at his childhood home, Bolehyde Manor in Wiltshire where Camilla lived from 1973 to 1986. She continues to snack on fresh peas with her step-granddaughter Princess Charlotte.
"If you take them straight from their pods they're delicious, really sweet. I take all my grandchildren into the garden and they spend hours and hours eating peas," she said.
READ: Princess Kate's secret seaside treat for Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis
