Former Royal Gardener Reveals the Food Item King Charles "Banned" From Highgrove

King Charles is known to be a difficult eater, often eschewing lunch and being very particular about his produce. When you have private chefs and the royal kitchens at your disposal, you could request any food at any time. Former royal gardener David Pearce, who worked for the King in his private kitchen garden, revealed that King Charles requested some “wonderful things” for his dinners and lunches.

“I spent about a year working for His Royal Highness in the kitchen garden, growing fruit and vegetables,” Pearce told The Farnham Herald, revealing that The King requested “wonderful things that went into his dinners and lunches.” The former royal gardener, who worked for the King at his private residence of Highgrove as recently as 2023, said that King Charles was very involved in the planning of the kitchen garden. The King had a heavy say in what was grown—and, consequently, what was served in the kitchen. “It was mostly working with him and his individual preferences.”

"We were growing mostly things he requested himself—a whole bed of salad and two whole beds of asparagus, he was very keen on that,” Pearce shared. King Charles is passionate about organic produce and practices organic gardening in his own gardens. “Things like cauliflower, and he particularly liked his crudité carrots. We would have to grow them to a particular size of your little finger.”

“He particularly liked spinach,” Pearce revealed, sharing that King Charles did not avoid the same foods—like spinach, garlic, and alliums—that his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, avoided. “We grew onions, leeks and Florence fennel,” Pearce said. Queen Elizabeth II reportedly banned foods like spinach, onions, and garlic to steer clear breath or teeth mishaps, but King Charles has a different list of vegetables he has banished from his gardens and his kitchen.

“Squash was off the cards, and absolutely no courgettes.”