Chef Darren McGrady, who cooked for key members of the Royal Family for 15 years, expressed his surprise at the portrayal of Prince Charles and Princess Diana’s relationship in the latest season of Netflix’s The Crown. According to the chef, Charles and Diana spent happy moments in Australia and at Balmoral.
Speaking about the depiction of the 1983 royal tour to Australia and New Zealand, he recalled: “You see them in Australia sort of arguing and fighting, but, you know, they were happy there.
“And the same as, you know, Balmoral Castle, when we had the Ghillies Ball.
“I remember standing there watching Prince Charles and Princess Diana dancing together, and they were spinning and spinning, and the princess loved to dance.
“So she took advantage and she was spinning the prince faster, and then he was laughing louder and louder.
“And when I see The Crown and see that and think, ‘You don’t know the whole truth’.”
The fourth season of The Crown covers events taking place between 1979, including the death of Lord Louis Mountbatten, and 1990.
It heavily focuses on the relationship between Charles and Diana and the Prince of Wales’ affair with Camilla, the now-Duchess of Cornwall.
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The first two seasons of The Crown saw Queen Elizabeth II being interpreted by Claire Foy, while Olivia Colman played a more mature monarch during the two latest years.
Mr McGrady criticised the way the Queen is portrayed in the show, where she is rarely seen break a smile.
On the other hand, the royal chef claimed the monarch has “great sense of humour” and is “always smiling”.
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Speaking to Us Weekly, he added: “I liked the first queen, the second one, I’m not so keen on.
“She doesn’t smile enough in there.”
Mr McGrady worked at the five-star Savoy before joining the Royal Household as a chef.
He worked in the Queen’s kitchens for 11 years before becoming Princess Diana’s chef in 1993.
He remained at the princess’ service until her death in 1997.
During his time at Kensington Palace, Mr McGrady also cooked for Prince William and Prince Harry.
In May last year, the chef opened up on one of the royals’ favourite meals when they were children.
As he shared a recipe to make crispy skin-on chicken thighs on his Youtube channel, the chef revealed what William and Harry’s nanny had to do to make sure they were eating enough greens.
He said: “William and Harry loved this [the crispy chicken and mac and cheese] with shucked corn.
“But when the nanny was in the house she insisted ‘the boys must always eat their greens’.
“And so, she insisted that it was broccoli all the time.
“The boys, I guess like any boys, weren’t huge fans of broccoli, but what she said was ‘when you do the broccoli – I want you to have one piece of broccoli with each piece of chicken.
“So, the boys had to have the broccoli if they wanted to have the chicken.”
