Prince William and Prince Harry’s former employee lifts lid on their relationship

Since stepping back as a working royal, Prince Harry has been determined to tell his own story in his own words – after a lifetime in the bright spotlight that comes along with being part of the monarchy. He hasn’t held back in divulging his perspective on what life is like in the House of Windsor behind closed doors, breaking with the long-held tradition of the royals keeping pretty much quiet on their private lives and dynamics.

In his bestselling memoir Spare, Harry peeled back his perspective on the complicated layers that have made up his relationship with his brother Prince William since they were children together but the Duke of Sussex isn’t the only person to provide this kind of insider insight: a former member of staff for the royal household has also divulged some details on the brothers’ early life.

Former royal chef, Darren McGrady, worked for the Windsors for 15 years and got to know many of the senior royals during his time in the royal household, including Charles, Diana, Prince Philip, the late Queen Prince William, and Prince Harry. As reported in The Express, McGrady revealed that despite the divisions and strained relationship between William and Harry in recent years, they used to bond as kids over their favourite dinner that the insider would make sure to whip up for them.

The dish in question is a British favorite – Cottage Pie – and the former royal chef would make it for the two boys whenever they came to Kensington Palace. The insider also revealed that the brothers loved to spend time in the kitchen when they were home. “Whether it was to find out what was for lunch, or to just play hide and seek or to just come through and chat,” the brothers were in the kitchen pretty regularly, the royal chef explained.

“Sometimes they’d want to come through and cook. That was always a worrying experience but it was always fun having the boys in the kitchen. And although it was a royal palace, they were royal children and just like normal children, they were running around the house, having fun,” he said.

The chef also revealed that when the boys stayed with their mother Diana at her Kensington Palace home, she wanted them to have the same experiences as every other child around the country and enjoy a kind of normality behind closed doors, despite their royal status, and this included, he claimed, tucking into their dinner on the weekend in front of the television. McGrady also claimed that Diana once pointed out to him just how contrasting her two sons were in personality, alleging that she said: “William’s deep like his father, and Harry’s just an airhead, like me.”