Queen Elizabeth II: The monarch who loved Indian tea and chocolate cake

With the passing of Queen Elizabeth II an era comes to an end. The longest reigning British monarch who was served by 15 UK Prime Ministers, was not just known for her efforts to modernise the institution of monarchy but also for her fine tastes and frugal eating habits.

Having lived a long and healthy life, the Queen knew the art of striking the perfect balance when it came to eating healthy. From the Silver Tips Imperial Tea from Assam to Chocolate Cakes that she could not resist, the queen had adorable and imitable tastes. Have a look at some special facts about Late Her Majesty's diet and food habits.

Queen Elizabeth loved light teas and her favourite time of having them was in the afternoons. She is said to have enjoyed the quintessential Earl Grey Tea and also the Silver Tips Imperial Tea from Assam. She had her tea without milk or sugar and paired it with sandwiches and light tea cakes.

Queen Elizabeth defied the saying-'Eat Like An Emperor'. "The Queen ate small light meals and was very simple and non-demanding when it came to food. Like most of us she often repeated her food, eating kind of same food almost everyday," says Chef Darren McGrady, the Queen's personal cook for 15 years, in his book on the British Royal kitchen.

On days the Queen was not entertaining guests on her breakfast table, she would contend with a simple warm toast with some marmalade or jam. Her lunch and dinner usually included lots of vegetables and a little meat. She loved poached salmon, but did not particularly liked too many garlic and onions in her food.

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Her love for gin is world famous. She liked to have it in cocktails and had even launched her own Gin brand with ingredients from Buckingham Palace and Sandringham House gardens.

The Queen could not resist chocolates and usually polished off even the last bits of chocolate cake served to her by the royal chefs. She even carried the leftover ones with her on journeys. This probably was her only secret indulgence.

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The Queen never directly remarked on whether she liked or disliked food and always communicated with the chefs through a red leather book. She would put down her notes about what she liked about a dish or what she wanted to eat. Usually the chefs would prepare her requested food at a notice of three days, said Chef Darren McGrady in one of his interviews.

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"The Queen usually was served food from a set menu and if a new dish was being introduced, she usually asked for the recipe. At Balmoral Castle we have an abundance of strawberries and one day I saw this really interesting recipe called Tilswater Bonder Picker which translated into Veiled Farmer's Daughter. I made it using the strawberries, cream and sugar along with a hint of cinnamon and sent it to the queen. In return I got an angry note saying-"Who are these veiled farmer's daughters?", clearly she did not like the dish," shared Chef Darren McGrady.

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