LONDON (AP) — Queen Elizabeth II has eaten jam sandwiches every day since she was a toddler, says her former private chef.
Darren McGrady claims on his YouTube channel that monarchs prefer strawberry jam made from fruit harvested on the grounds of Balmoral Castle in Scotland.
“The Queen was served jam pennies at nursery school when she was little. She’s had them for afternoon tea ever since,” he says in a recently released video released last July. The sandwich is made of bread with a little butter and jam and is cut into circles about the size of an old British penny.
As part of the gracious tradition of afternoon tea, McGrady, who has been the Queen’s chef for 11 years, also has the monarch’s solution to a familiar conundrum for British scone lovers: jam or cream first. clarified.
“Queen always jammed first,” he said in another video. “Jam followed, followed by delicious clotted cream.”
As with jam, the 96-year-old monarch has always leaned toward fresh strawberries. “The Queen used to eat strawberries three or four nights a week at Balmoral when the season came,” he says.
But woe to anyone who tried to feed her an out-of-season berry.
The palace did not comment on the Queen’s sandwich preferences.
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