How Prince William Scared Princess Eugenie and Beatrice With an Easter Prank

(Image credit: LEON NEAL/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

Prince William skipped the Royal Family's Easter Sunday church service in 2025 to spend time with wife Kate Middleton and their children—Prince George, Princess Charlotte, and Prince Louis. However, Prince William reportedly made Easter unforgettable for some of his relatives when he was a child.

Remembering some of William's naughtiest moments, former royal chef Darren McGrady told OK! magazine, "One year I made a chocolate egg with a Hickory Dickory Dock nursery rhyme theme. It had a clock on the top striking one and a sugared mouse peeking out of a mousehole."

McGrady continued, "We sent it up to the nursery on the silver tray, but 15 minutes later the footman brought it back. He said, 'Nanny asked me to return this. Prince William has just stood on a chair and bitten the mouse's head off, frightening Beatrice and Eugenie.'"

Prince Harry, Princess Eugenie, Princess Beatrice, and Prince William in Klosters, Switzerland on January 4, 1995.

Luckily, McGrady was able to work fast and rectify the damage William had caused to the Easter treat. "We had to quickly make another mouse, pop it in the hole and send it back to the nursery," the former royal chef explained. "I think Nanny put the egg out of William's reach to make sure it didn't happen again!"

Prince William, Princess Diana and Peter Phillips walking away from St. George's Chapel on Easter 1987 — Princess Diana, Prince William, and Peter Phillips on Easter Sunday in 1987.

As well as recalling one of Prince William's dreadful pranks, McGrady remembered a sweet interaction he had with Princess Diana. "Asking for another helping is not the done thing at Easter or any other time," the royal chef told the outlet. "Princess Diana used to love my bread and butter pudding, so she'd have a portion at the table and then once dinner was over she'd nip down to the kitchen and sit on the counter eating a second portion that I'd saved. She was too scared to ask the Queen for seconds."

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Amy Mackelden is the weekend editor at Marie Claire, where she covers celebrity and royal family news. She was the weekend editor at Harper’s BAZAAR for three years, where she covered breaking celebrity and entertainment news, royal stories, fashion, beauty, and politics. Prior to that, she spent a year as the joint weekend editor for Marie Claire, ELLE, and Harper's BAZAAR, and two years as an entertainment writer at Bustle. Her additional bylines include Cosmopolitan, People, The Independent, HelloGiggles, Biography, Shondaland, Best Products, New Statesman, Heat, and The Guardian. Her work has been syndicated by publications including Town & Country, Good Housekeeping, Esquire, Delish, Oprah Daily, Country Living, and Women's Health. Her celebrity interviews include Jennifer Aniston, Jessica Chastain, the cast of Selling Sunset, Emma Thompson, Jessica Alba, and Penn Badgley. In 2015, she delivered an academic paper at Kimposium, the world's first Kardashian conference.