Queen Elizabeth's Ex-Chef Reveals Best Parts Of Buckingham Palace: Staff 'Given Everything Needed'

Queen Elizabeth II’s former chef revealed what it was like working and living in Buckingham Palace.

Ex-royal chef Darren McGrady was the queen’s personal cuisinier and lived at the Queen’s London residence from 1982 to 1993, before transitioning as Princess Diana’s chef at Kensington Palace until 1997.

Now residing in Dallas, Texas, the 58-year-old chef, author and culinary consultant, recently spoke with Insider about the duration of his stay in the palace, as well as his living and traveling experiences with the royal family.

"I had a room at the palace. When I lived there, it was roomed very much like a show called 'Downtown Abbey,'" McGrady said in his interview with Insider, also sharing how the palace had separate kitchen wings for both male and female workers and floors for footmen and housemaids.

The royal chef said that segregation was strictly enforced and meant that no one was allowed to freely loiter on different floors.

"If you were a chef or a footman and you were trying to sneak up to the housemaids' floor and you got caught, you were in serious trouble,” he revealed. “Everyone was segregated, it was the done thing.”

Of course, being part of the Victorian era meant strict implementation of conventional rules. And according to McGrady, single males and females have always been prohibited from staying on the same floor together.

But that wasn’t the only rule the royal staff had to abide to. McGrady said that though the staff was allowed to have guests over, they were also prohibited from staying the night and are required to leave the premises by 10 p.m.

Regardless of the monarch’s ruling, residing in the Queen’s London home felt like living in a hotel, as per the ex-royal chef. The palace, housing 775 rooms overall, graced royal servants with their own room complete with a cleaning service for each floor.

"Being a servant there, we had our own room but you never even made your own bed in the morning,” McGrady shared. “Each floor had its own cleaning lady that would come in and make the beds, change the towels, give you soap.”

Like most deluxe services offered by hotels, royal servants were granted a free cooked breakfast, a three-course meal for lunch as well as afternoon tea and dinner. On top of these perks, McGrady shared that the staff also had their own bar with “hugely discounted” drinks, a snooker room and chefs’ dining room.

"It was like a hotel, an institution. You can see why people stayed there for 30 years or more because you were given everything you needed. What you were paid was just pocket money," he told Insider.

Meanwhile, the palace isn’t exactly as sophisticated as some think it would be. Amid the meticulous undertakings required by the monarch, working for the Queen still meant exclusive access to more enjoyable perks.

Per Insider, the staff has exclusive access to the royal household social club. Traveling to the Queen’s holiday estates such as Windsor, Balmoral and Sandringham meant staff organizing discos, bingo nights, fancy dress parties and ceilidhs—a traditional Scottish dance.

The royal staff had already been apt in putting up these social gatherings to the point that even royals have gatecrashed the events themselves. McGrady shared that during a disco party where he was the “resident DJ,” Princess Diana and Fergie came down to horn in on the staff’s party.

And though the royal and the songstress only stayed a few minutes, McGrady happily spun the discs during the party.

The Queen’s former chef also revealed that his majesty was also frequented the festivities every now and then.