Before working for Princess Diana, a chef who delighted the late Queen with Pia Colada mousses and penny-shaped sandwiches died unexpectedly earlier this month.
Graham Newbould, 66, worked at Buckingham Palace and on the Royal Yacht Britannia from 1980 to 1982 before joining King Charles and his first wife at Kensington Palace for another four and a half years until 1987.
The Michelin-starred chef, who was born in Wakefield, Yorkshire, in August 1956, went on to have a successful career at various establishments. Heather, his second wife, and their son, as well as two children from his first marriage, survive him.
Despite his refusal to dish out royal gossip during his time working for the royal family, Newbould took viewers behind the scenes in a Channel 5 documentary titled Secrets of the Royal Kitchens in 2002, where he revealed some little-known facts about the late Queen and her family’s eating habits.
Graham, whose last job was as a cook for the Duke of Bedford at Woburn Abbey, revealed in the programme how Princess Diana would have him cook jacket potatoes for Prince William and Prince Harry, and how the Queen would enjoy her own version of fish and chips at the Palace.
During his years of service at Buckingham and Kensington Palace, the chef never commented on the private lives of royal family members, telling a reporter, ‘I’ve signed the Official Secrets Act, and anything to do with the Royal Family is taboo,’ according to the Daily Telegraph.
When asked if he was responsible for Princess Diana’s slim figure, he once joked that he was the one who kept her on the front pages.
Graham left the royals after more than six years to become chef at the Inverlochy Castle hotel in Scotland, where he earned a Michelin star.
In 2002, he hosted Secrets of the Royal Kitchen, in which he shared anecdotes from his time at The Firm.
In the programme, he revealed that the royal family prefers “simple but elegant food, not too spicy, not too big or too small portions.”
During his tenure, the late Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip would begin the day with a traditional English breakfast at 8 a.m., followed by lunch at 1.15 p.m., high tea at 5 p.m., and dinner at 8.15 p.m.
‘Everything had to be elegantly presented and well-presented. But they weren’t big on decoration, so you could just serve flaked salmon on a plate with mayonnaise,’ Graham said on the Channel 5 show.
The chef went on to say that garlic was forbidden on the royal table and that the Queen would enjoy her own version of fish and chips, called Haddock St Germain.
Graham also mentioned in the show that the Queen had a peculiar habit of eating penny-shaped sandwiches for high tea, ‘because tradition has it that anyone presenting pointed-edged food is attempting to overthrow the throne of England.’
Graham, as royal chef, would also prepare meals for the royal pets, such as chopped-up boiled lamb’s liver or rabbit with rice and cabbage for the Corgis and tripe for the gun dogs.
The chef was also in charge of Christmas dinner, which he used to experiment with new dishes.
He revealed that the royal family did not enjoy mince pies or Christmas pudding, allowing him to experiment with something new, such as a pia colada mousse with a raspberry coulis for dessert.
Graham worked on the wedding breakfast for King Charles, then Prince of Wales, and Princess Diana in 1981, and was asked to become one of the couple’s two personal chefs when they returned from their honeymoon.
Unlike his parents, King Charles did not eat a cooked breakfast in the morning, instead opting for a glass of freshly squeezed orange or apple juice and a small bowl of fresh fruit salad.
‘Then he would have muesli with six different types of dried fruit, apricots, peaches, figs, plums, apples and pears, served with milk from the Royal Dairy at Windsor. He would then have granary toast with six different types of honey. He would cut his toast up and try a little bit of honey on each,’ Graham revealed.
