Diana Dubbed Ahead of Her Time for Breaking a Royal Tradition — But Was She Hiding a Darker Truth?

Former palace chef Darren McGrady says the royal family was never particularly swayed by food trends or New Year resolutions. With one notable exception: Princess Diana, who he believes was ahead of her time. McGrady, who worked at both Buckingham Palace and Kensington Palace, said that vegetarian and vegan meals were not part of the routine at the time. “Nobody was really into healthy eating,” he said, explaining that most meals reflected the preferences of Queen Elizabeth.

While portions were generally small, McGrady said that wasn’t because of dieting. “They would eat smaller portions, but it wasn’t due to them being on a diet or healthy eating,” he explained. “It wasn’t until I moved across to Princess Diana and became her chef that it really was watching the fat and all the rest of it when I was cooking.”

According to McGrady, Diana was the only member of the family who regularly asked for something different. “Well, it would be Princess Diana, because the other royals didn't—they had what the [late] Queen had,” he said. At Buckingham Palace, everyone followed the Queen’s menu, and guests were expected to do the same. If they didn’t like it, McGrady once joked, they could “get a McDonald’s on the way home.”

Diana’s preferences leaned toward lighter, healthier dishes. McGrady said she enjoyed “parsnip and apple soup, which was quite festive and super healthy,” as well as “stuffed vegetables like peppers.” Soups were often featured on her menu. “She liked butternut squash soups, so lots of soups and lots of hearty salads that had the nuts and cranberries. That was more what she was into — more of the healthy eating.” Despite her focus on fresh, low-fat food, Diana wasn’t rigid. McGrady has previously shared that she requested salmon so often that she eventually grew tired of it. 

Snacking was rare across the household. “They weren’t snackers,” McGrady said, though fruit bowls were always available in private rooms. Queen Elizabeth, however, kept one small indulgence close by. “They were her favorite chocolates,” McGrady said of Bendicks. “She would have a box of them in her room all the time, so she could have a nibble on those.”

But there was reportedly more to Diana’s healthy eating. Her relationship with food is known to have been shaped by personal struggles. She spoke openly about her battle with body dysmorphia and bulimia, an eating disorder that began during her engagement to the then-Prince Charles. “The bulimia started the week after we got engaged and would take nearly a decade to overcome,” she told Andrew Morton, the biographer of Diana: Her True Story.

In the same account, Diana traced the trigger back to a seemingly offhand remark. “My husband put his hand on my waistline and said, ‘Oh, a bit chubby here, aren't we?’ and that triggered off something in me,” she said. Her later focus on lighter, carefully prepared meals, former Palace staff suggest, was not only because of preference, but by an effort to regain control over her health and wellbeing. Even as she recovered from her eating disorder, Diana remained conscious of her figure and tended to avoid heavier foods such as red meat. She favored lighter options, occasionally opting for steamed fish or poached chicken.