As Britain's head of state, the Queen has access to the nation's finest ingredients.
Back in 2018, HELLO! took a look at the monarch's personal meal preferences as she became the longest-serving British monarch in history – beating a record set by her great-great-grandmother Queen Victoria.
The culinary revelations are equally fascinating today as they were then, and some may surprise you!
To select her meals at Buckingham Palace, Queen Elizabeth flicks through a menu (written in French) twice a week, marking her preferred dishes with a tick. According to The Telegraph, dishes that make the royal cut are likely to include either chocolate or ingredients from her farms.
MORE: 20 surprising facts about the Queen's royal banquets
WATCH: The Queen loves these foods!
She relishes the strawberries grown at Balmoral, and the white peaches from her greenhouses at Windsor Castle. Fillets of beef and venison from Sandringham and Balmoral, meanwhile, are turned into Gaelic steak, served with a sauce of mushroom, cream and whisky.
READ: Eat like the Queen! Royal kitchen utensils used by palace chefs
© Photo: Getty ImagesCake is often on the menu at the Palace
And on Sundays, Her Majesty perhaps unsurprisingly tucks into a roast after church – but it's a well-done end slice of a joint, not rare. Former royal chef Owen Hodgson revealed that our monarch likes a touch of Marmite with her mushrooms, and that sandwiches are served to perfection, without crusts.
© Photo: Getty ImagesThe Queen enjoys Twinings' English breakfast tea every morning; here pictured in 1999
"The perfect tuna sandwich", he said, is prepared by "cutting the loaf lengthways, buttering both sides, adding the tuna-mayonnaise mixture and thinly sliced cucumber, with a crack of pepper." The two lengths are then folded over, the crusts removed, and eight identical triangles are cut.
"The Palace kitchen was all about the detail," he added.
MORE: Best gin advent calendars we know the Queen would love for Christmas 2020
Did you know the monarch is fluent in French?
Meanwhile, Darren McGrady, who was personal chef to the Queen and then to Diana, Princess of Wales, said, "Sadly, the Queen is not a foodie. She eats to live, unlike Prince Philip who loves to eat and would stand and talk food all day."
Darren, who now owns a fine dining catering company and personal chef service in Dallas, Texas, and has penned his own memoirs called Eating Royally, also remembers:
"The Queen loved scrambled eggs with smoked salmon and a grating of truffle. But she was too frugal to ever order fresh truffles and only really enjoyed them at Christmas when the truffles were sent as a gift."
Typically, though, the Queen likes cereal and fruit for breakfast, accompanied by English breakfast tea in a bone china cup and saucer.
The Queen is known to have a penchant for chocolate
Afternoon tea is a daily fixture at the Palace, and often comes with chocolate perfection pie or chocolate biscuit cake, made with McVitie’s Rich Tea biscuits. Servings are kept small.
Tradition has, of course, made its way into the royal kitchens – the chocolate ganache sponge cake that is served at birthdays for the Queen and her family was created by Queen Victoria's chef.
