The royal family doesn’t have to go digging around their kitchen looking for something to eat. They have an arsenal of accomplished chefs at their service who can whip up their every culinary whim. And with a huge family like the royals to cater to, the kitchen staff is constantly kept busy.

Marie Claire spoke to Darren McGrady, former royal chef to the Queen, Prince Philip, Charles, Princess Diana, and William and Harry. McGrady shared secrets of their often times intense meal time habits. Some info is even refreshing — royals eat McDonalds, too!

Chef Darren revealed that sometime dinner was quite formal.

“They’d come down in dressy ball gowns, and sit at the table — like a Downtown Abbey dinner. All the fine china was brought out,” he said.

But sometimes dinner was far less stuffy and a quick fast-food run did the trick.

“I remember the Princess came into the kitchen one day and said, ‘Cancel lunch for the boys. I’m taking them out, we’re going to McDonald’s.”

Chef Darren offered to cook up some burgers, but it was the Happy Meal toys the boys were after. (Of course!)

Despite being English princes, Chef Darren said that the boys loved going out for all sorts of American fast food, from burgers to pizza to potato skins.

For the Queen, life seems to be about balance. Chef Darren said that sometime she would “eat fruit from a plastic yellow tupperware container,” but sometime she would also eat fruit from a “dish encrusted in diamonds, rubies, sapphires, and emeralds.”

Perhaps the most interesting habit Darren reveals were those of Princess Diana’s. Princess Di was eventually open with the public about her struggles with bulimia, but not at first. It wasn’t until after she addressed her issue publicly and with the royal family that she began to eat better.

Darren said, “It wasn’t until she confronted it, and everyone put two and two together, that she started really healthy eating…she liked dishes like stuffed bell peppers and stuffed eggplant — she loved fish.”

Princess Di would never eat red meat, only occasionally opting for lamb when dining with company. She would even have healthier versions of the food served to guests.

“She used to trick people,” Darren said. She’d have the fat-free version of say, a mousse, while guests were given the full-fat version. “No one would know the difference.”

And all the royals used to play a naughty trick on the Queen Mother.

“Dinner was at 8:30 in Balmoral when Her Majesty the Queen Mother was in attendance. They used to tell her that dinner was at 8:15, and she’d be the last one down. They told every one else 8:30 because they knew she’d be late.”

Get more royal food facts at Marie Claire.

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Meghan is a full-time writer exploring the fun facts behind food. She lives a healthy lifestyle but lives for breakfast, dessert and anything with marinara. She’s thrown away just as many meals as she’s proud of.