The Queen’s former chef has revealed that the Royal family need so much food and equipment to pull off Christmas Day at Sandringham, that the army is enlisted to transport all of the supplies.
Darren McGrady worked for The Queen for 10 years and oversaw several Christmases at the Royal estate. The long-time chef revealed the inner workings of Christmas at Sandringham as part of Yahoo UK series, The Royal Story.
McGrady says that “it takes months of planning contacting all of the suppliers” ahead of the big day. He continues: “The day before we went up to Sandringham, we'd pack all of the equipment into these hampers and then the Army would arrive and load them into the back of these big army trucks. It literally was a military operation!”
The Royal family traditionally spend Christmas at Sandringham
Giving an insight into what Christmas Day in the royal household looks like, McGrady said: “The men would come down to a big hearty breakfast but the ladies, they prefer the extra hour or so to get ready so they'd have a breakfast tray taken up to their rooms with some sliced fruit, maybe a boiled egg. That would sort of carry them going into church, and then the royal lunch.”
The Queen’s former chef also revealed the shocking amount of food provided for the Royals on Christmas Day. “There was so much food at Sandringham for Christmas – 26lb/28lb turkeys,'” he said. “They were so big, you almost had to take the oven doors off.”
However, McGrady clarifies that the excess amount of food was not just to feed the Royals. He explains: “It wasn't just the 18-20 people in the royal dining room we were cooking for – it was the 8 or 10 in the royal nursery too, it was the 100 staff.”
Finally, McGrady also confirmed that a separate menu is devised for the Royal Corgi’s to enjoy.
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