What the Queen eats and does on Christmas Day
Christmas being a time of excess and mass expenditure, you’d think that our Royals would really push the boat out.
Perhaps a whole roasted hog. Turtle soup. Actual gold cake.
But no.
The royal family, it turns out, is pretty modest in their festive celebrations.
They celebrate Christmas over two days at Sandringham House, their private residence in Norfolk.
And according to former royal chef, Darren McGrady, it’s a pretty austere affair.
‘The Queen is not lavish, so the décor is minimal. The Royal Family has a large Christmas tree and a large silver artificial tree in the dining room, which is about 30 years old,’ he tells Good Housekeeping.
Coming from German stock, they do try to ‘weave in German traditions to their celebrations’.
‘After afternoon tea, they open gifts on Christmas Eve, as is the German tradition. Christmas morning, the family eats a hardy breakfast before heading off to church.
‘After church, that’s when they have a big lunch that includes a salad with shrimp or lobster, and a roasted turkey, and all of your traditional side dishes like parsnips, carrots, Brussels sprouts and Christmas pudding with brandy butter for dessert. They stick with the same meal year after year.’
After lunch, they all sit down to watch the Queen’s Christmas speech (surely an odd moment…?).
It isn’t until the evening when the real Christmas do gets underway, with a buffet of up to 20 different items happens.
More: Food
‘ It’s always a buffet with the chefs at the table carving. They don’t do appetizers on Christmas like many do here in the U.S. In…instead, appetizers and canapes are reserved for New Year’s Eve.’
And, like everyone, it sounds like the Queen wouldn’t say no to a post-dinner After Eight.
‘The queen is a major chocoholic, particularly dark chocolate, so she always has a chocolate treat on Christmas. She also loves mint.’
Maybe we’re not so unalike after all.
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