King Charles is a picky eater. He is known for issuing specific instructions to his staff, allegedly regarding everything he eats, from eggs to plums.
Darren McGrady, a former royal chef, experienced these bizarre rules closely. In a Channel 5 documentary, Secrets of the Royal Kitchen, he shares that the monarch reportedly loves fruit, especially from his garden at Highgrove.
But of them, plums are his favourites, which he always takes two of in his breakfast.
The chef recalls that the instructions were clear for the staff: “The instruction was to put two plums and a little juice into the bowl, and send it in to him for breakfast."
"I’d send in two plums and he would take one so it would come back out after breakfast, and I’d put the other plum back into the jar and save it."
Given this, McGrady himself decided to put a single plum in the dish next time.
"One morning I thought, 'Okay he only eats one for breakfast, so I only put one plum into the bowl and sent it out into the dining room,'" he recalls.
But even this small change was noticed, says McGrady.
"The attending (waiter) came through and said, ‘Can His Royal Highness have two please?’ So I had to keep sending two in every morning."
In the meantime, Charles, at 77, is recovering from an unknown type of cancer he was diagnosed with in 2024.