After his dreams to be in the Royal Navy were cast aside, along with his lunch, during a school trip to France, Darren McGrady looked to other career options. It was his mother who suggested a culinary career, since he had always had a passion for eating and tasting food.
From washing dishes at age 15 in a top hotel in Nottingham, England to attending a local culinary school, McGrady quickly escalated up the chef circuit, moving to London to cook at the prestigious Savoy Hotel and, later, to Buckingham Palace, where he worked as a chef for the royal family for 11 years. After Princess Diana and Prince Charles divorced, he moved on to Kensington Palace, where he cooked for the princess and her two sons, William and Harry, until her death in 1997.
This Sunday, McGrady, also known as The Royal Chef, will make an appearance in Malibu at a luncheon titled, “Recipes and Remembrances From a Palace Kitchen,” sponsored by Malibu residents Rachael and Navy Banvard. McGrady will prepare a lunch, provide cooking tips and share stories of his experiences with the royal family.
The luncheon is a benefit for the Curtis School, an elementary grade independent school on Mulholland Drive, where Banvard’s daughter is a student. Every year the school produces a “Party Book,” a collection of events and activities sponsored by Curtis parents. Parent sponsors cover the cost of the event and other parents bid on slots. The bid money is then donated directly to the school.
Banvard’s luncheon with The Royal Chef will host 14 parents, with each seat at $250.
“I’ve always had a soft spot in my heart for Princess Diana,” said Kim Uzielli, a Curtis parent who calls herself a Diana-phile and will be attending the luncheon. Uzielli remembers waking up at 5 a.m. to watch Diana get married and at 3 a.m. to watch her funeral.
On Sunday, McGrady will share his experiences planning day-to-day menus at the palace and some of the many stories from his time with the royal family. These experiences range from cooking for diplomatic functions hosting 15,000 people to casual conversations with the princess to getting hit with water guns from William and Harry, and to making some of the boys’ favorite foods: loaded potato skins and homemade pizza.
“They were royal princes but they had children’s palates. Every now and then the princess would pop her head around the door and say, ‘I’m taking the boys to McDonalds’,” McGrady said in an interview with The Malibu Times.
For the luncheon, McGrady has planned to prepare one of Princess Diana’s favorite desserts, bread and butter pudding, in addition to several other dishes.
“[Princess Diana] was an incredible woman,” McGrady said. ” She had a lot of pressure. Some days she would come in and it would be a bad press day or bad hair day, [but] she [kept] a wicked sense of humor.”
After her death, McGrady turned down a request to cook for Prince Charles at Highgrove and, instead, moved with his family to the States. McGrady now lives in Dallas, Texas, where he works as a private chef for a family, cooking three meals a day, five days a week.
Banvard came into contact with McGrady several years ago when her daughter was working on a school project on Princess Diana. One of the report questions asked for the subject’s favorite food. Banvard did a simple Google search, found The Royal Chef and e-mailed him with the subject, “Malibu Mom Needs Help.”
Due to having children of similar ages and a recent trip to Malibu, Banvard’s e-mail hit a spot with McGrady and he answered her. The dish was something having to do with eggplant, Banvard remembered.
The two kept in touch over the years. Banvard, who has worked in the public relations industry for years, offered McGrady tips on promoting his cookbook, “Eating Royally,” published in 2007, and helped him get booked on “The Today Show,” where McGrady cooked live at Rockefeller Plaza.
When this year’s Curtis Party Book events were submitted, a friend suggested Banvard contact McGrady to come to Malibu.
A weekend cooking lesson to benefit a cause is nothing new for The Royal Chef, who, since moving to the U.S., has actively pursued and been involved with charitable causes. Proceeds from his cookbook are donated to the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation, and he regularly flies around the country participating in various events to support both children and AIDS, which were the two causes Princess Diana was passionate about.
“That’s what the princess was all about: by giving a bit of time, you can raise some money. I think it’s something the princess would be proud of,” McGrady said.
McGrady’s first book, “Eating Royally,” is available at most major bookstores.