Princess Anne Has a Pretty Unusual Food Preference, According to a Former Royal Footman

Some might even call it...bananas.

Princess Anne, Princess Royal walk past an ice cream stall as she attends the Gatcombe Horse Trials at Gatcombe Park on March 25, 2006 in Stroud, England.
(Image credit: Photo by Max Mumby / Indigo / Getty)

The British royals definitely don't lead a normal life, but when it comes to their food preferences, they're not exactly the most adventurous.

The Queen, for instance, likes toast with marmalade and plain fresh fish.

But her only daughter brings a little intrigue into the fold, with a truly bizarre food preference.

"Princess Anne was lovely," former royal footman Steven Kaye recalls in a Q&A with Slingo, before launching into a story that sets the Princess Royal apart in his mind (and yours, forever).

"A funny story for you: Once the chefs had cleaned up in the kitchen, you’d go and get things for breakfast and there would always be a bunch of bananas literally on the side that were black, they were left to rot, they were never put away in the fridge," Kaye says.

You see where this is going. "I remember asking who they were for and it turns out the Princess Royal only eats black bananas—the royal chef had strict instructions to serve them overripe," Kaye concludes.

Princess Anne... What? Why?

Anyway, I thought this was amusing, and thought you might enjoy it too.

If you'd like another story, here's one that Kaye shared about the Queen forgetting her manners during a hunting lunch.

"The Queen walks in, she has a pheasant in one hand and a gun in the other, she puts them in the corner, puts the dogs in this pen and I’ve made her a gin and dubonnet—it’s one part gin, two parts dubonnet and an ice and a slice, she’d always have one of those at five o’clock—and what I found interesting is that she sat with her elbows on the table as she was eating. I just didn’t expect that," Kaye recalls.

"You’ve always had that etiquette rule, 'elbows off the table,' but if it’s good enough for the Queen, then it’s good enough for all of us. I think it’s her way of making her guests feel relaxed. She’d always sit there and pick at the food with her elbows on the table. But she would never do that at a state banquet, obviously." Phew!

TOPICS
Iris Goldsztajn
Morning Editor

Iris Goldsztajn is a London-based journalist, editor and author. She is the morning editor at Marie Claire, and her work has appeared in the likes of British Vogue, InStyle, Cosmopolitan, Refinery29 and SELF. Iris writes about everything from celebrity news and relationship advice to the pitfalls of diet culture and the joys of exercise. She has many opinions on Harry Styles, and can typically be found eating her body weight in cheap chocolate.