queen bananas

You won't believe how the Queen eats her bananas

Former royal chef Darren McGrady made the surprising revelation

Parenting Editor
October 9, 2020

Firstly, we love this story. Secondly, most of the world eats a banana in the same way, right? Hold it, peel it, eat it. Well, not the Queen, and we think this news has made us love her even more than before.

According to the monarch's former personal chef Darren McGrady, who worked at Buckingham Palace for 11 years from 1982, Her Majesty consumes her bananas in a far classier way.

In a new video on his YouTube channel, Darren demonstrates how the Queen eats bananas, and it's very surprising indeed.

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Speaking about preparing bananas for royal banquets, Darren revealed: "The bananas were pulled into individual pieces and then you had to trim off the edges, the stalks, just to make them all look pretty.

"It was impolite to eat a banana like a monkey at Buckingham Palace. You're supposed to eat it with a fruit knife and fork. Trim off the edges, cut down the centre, open it up, put the end pieces back in the skin, cut a few rings and then you can continue the conversation."

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The Queen eats her bananas in a very polite way

Oh my. Imagine doing that with your banana. Slicing it open with a special fruit knife and fork, cutting it up and eating it with cutlery. Not that practical for an 'on the go nana'.

MORE: Duchess Camilla shares incredible Scottish breakfast recipe

One uses cutlery for a banana at the palace

And that's not the only fruit the Queen eats with fancy cutlery. Nope, she eats her apples and pineapples in this way too.

Speaking about preparing apples for a royal banquet, Darren says the Queen and guests would: "Take them, then cut them into little bite-sized pieces while talking. Each of the apples had to have the stalks taken out and then once we'd done that, we had to polish every one."

Guests may be surprised by the fruit course protocol at banquets

Pineapples were a whole other level. Royal chefs cut the top off the fruit, remove the flesh in a perfect cylinder shape before cutting it into rings and taking out the centre with a ring cutter.

Darren says: "After that, you place it back into the pineapple and put the lid on – this will surprise the guests when they open it up!"

So if you're bored this winter, why not arrange a fancy fruit course for your family and give them cutlery. It will be amusing at the very least…

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