Darren McGrady was the personal chef to Queen Elizabeth II, Prince Philip, Princess Diana, Prince Charles, and Princes William and Harry—a family with notoriously specific food needs—for 15 years. In 1998, he moved to the U.S.A. where he wrote best-selling cookbooks and founded Eating Royally, a fine-dining catering service based in Dallas, TX.
In the second installment of this limited series, Chef McGrady walks Delish through the royals' favorite recipes from his Dallas test kitchen...while spilling all the most glorious royal tea. We talked all things Prince Charles (who is the heir to the throne, BTW) this time around.
You may know Prince Charles as the Duke of Cornwall and the man who's set to inherit the British throne once his mother decides to pass it along, but you may not know he's also a pretty chill guy—one who's been into organic and sustainable produce for a long time and a man who's into spending time at home.
Per Chef McGrady, Charles maintains a huge garden at the Highgrove House where he and Camila, the Duchess of Cornwall, live. It's there that he tends to cattle and oversees the produce coming off the estate—he's also very insistent the chefs use what comes from the grounds to prepare meals.
Enter: the mushroom-heavy, earthy-as-all-hell mushroom brothy risotto this rack of lamb is served with. Chef notes that Charles has also always been a fan of Italian cuisine (the humble ingredients, the simplicity of the recipes, etc.), which is why he was such a fan of this particular risotto.
On a more personal note, it turns out Princess Diana loved Italian cuisine as well, so when she, Charles, and the boys would all sit down to eat as a family, a clean Italian meal was often on the table.
See the recipe in full above and learn more about the royal chef here.