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Former Buckingham Palace chef Darren McGrady opened up on his time in Princess Diana’s kitchen, which changed not only his recipes but inspired him to give back to people.
The chef, who joined the princesses’ household in 1993 after serving the Queen for more than a decade, remembers with affection the years he spent in her kitchen.
But he recounted one special moment he shared with Diana which later brought him to honour the late princess.
On June 26, 1997, the day after the record-breaking Christie’s auction of Diana’s clothing in New York, Chef McGrady had a chat with the princess about how successful the sale had been.
Depicting a private image of Prince Charles’s former wife, he told CNN: “The princess came into the kitchen.
“She was just wearing a white towel and robe.
“She’d just come out of the shower.
“Her hair was ruffled, and she just looked stunningly beautiful naturally.
“Pointing to a piece of paper, she said, ‘Darren, look at how much money I made for charity just by selling a few of my old dresses’.”
According to the New York Times, on a single night Princess Diana brought in £2.49million ($3.25m) for 79 cocktail and evening dresses, an average of more than £31,450 ($41,000) per piece of clothing.
Among them, there was a dress she wore when she danced at the White House with John Travolta, sold for £172,980 ($222,500).
Princess Diana, who was at that point patron of 119 charities, raised that money to help fight AIDS and breast cancer.
This moment pushed Chef McGrady to donate all of the advance and royalties of his first book, ‘Eating Royally’, to the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation, a charity helping children suffering with the illness.
He confessed that when writing it, he imagined meeting Diana again and saying: “Your Royal Highness, look at how much money I made for charity just by selling a few of my old recipes.”
The chef worked at Kensington Palace, where the princess continued to live even after her divorce with Prince Charles, until her death on August 31, 1997.
Describing his state of mind following the night of the car accident he said: “I went to bed, and I had the food for dinner the next day for her return.
“It was awful, awful, that next week.
“It was all surreal; going into the garden and seeing the flowers getting higher and higher and all the people and being at the funeral.
“The whole week was just a daze.”
But the chef gathered many joyful memories of his four years there.
Upon his arrival to Kensington Palace, he revealed he had to adjust his recipes to accommodate to the Princess’ diet, who had previously suffered from bulimia.
He recounted: “She said, ‘Darren, I’m eating healthy.
‘You take care of all of the fats in the kitchen, and I’ll take care of the carbs at the gym.’”
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