The Princess Royal has long been considered one of the British royal family’s hardest-working members, keeping up with a busy work schedule into her seventies.
Though Princess Anne, 74, famously follows a strict diet, there is an unusual dessert in her repertoire that she has admitted to pulling out at the end of a gathering hosted at her Gatcombe Park home in the Cotswolds.
“After all, one wants everyone out of the house by 9:15 pm at the latest,” Princess Anne said previously of her dinner parties. “For pudding, I pass them a choc ice to eat in the car.”
© ShutterstockChoc ices were a staple budget dessert in the 80s
The famous choc ice, for those unfamiliar with the iconic eighties dessert, is a bar of vanilla ice cream covered in milk chocolate, which usually retails for between £1 and £2 in local British supermarkets for a box of eight.
© GettyPrincess Anne uses the 20p dessert to signal the end of a party
It seems in Anne’s inner circle, the dessert is the ultimate crowd-pleaser and a way of telling the stragglers that the night has come to an end, and it is time for her nightcap.
Princess Anne’s strict diet
Ice cream bars aside, Anne maintains a healthy approach to her diet, even if her food choices are not for everyone. The royal starts the day with a bowl of fruit to kick start her metabolism, with bananas being her favourite.
However, Anne likes her bananas a stomach-churning brown colour, the more overripe the better as it will digest more easily. For lunch, the princess offsets her fruit-oriented breakfast by packing in the protein with kippers.
© GettyPrincess Anne eats her bananas over ripened
The oily fish is high in omega-3 fatty acids, which are known to reduce inflammation and help maintain a healthy heart. If she’s anything like her late mother, Anne will also allow space for a sweet treat.
© Karwai TangThe late queen also had a sweet tooth
Queen Elizabeth was loyal to an afternoon tea and former royal chef Darren McGrady has previously revealed that she had a sentimental attachment to a Bombe Glacée Royale, a sweet chocolate and mint dessert served at her 1947 wedding to Prince Philip and made cucumber, egg and smoked salmon sandwiches a staple of her afternoon tea spread.
© GettyPrincess Anne loves kippers in the morning
When she guest-edited an issue of Country Life magazine to celebrate her 70th birthday in 2020, Anne revealed that her go-to dinner was a devilled pheasant courtesy of the executive chef of the five-star Ritz Hotel, John Williams.
© GettyNatrually, Princess Anne is a tea-drinker
“A couple of whole pheasants are poached, then taken off the bone, shredded and kept warm in the poaching juices,” he explained. “You just add freshly whipped cream, left in the fridge for an hour to stiffen, mixed with a good amount of Green Label mango chutney.”
A royal foodie favourite
A love of a roast is one Anne shares with her nephew, the Prince of Wales. “In the evenings [Princess Kate] indulges her hobby of cooking William’s favourite supper, roast chicken,” royal expert Katie Nicholl said previously.
© Alamy Stock Photo
It has been reported that the Wales family shun help at their Adelaide Cottage home and likes to cook for themselves. They will undoubtedly be fans of Princess Anne’s walk-in fridge.
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The Lady magazine reported: “Her tiny frame is testament to the fact that she is not a big eater, but the large walk-in fridge is her favourite place. The cook will leave snacks for the princess to graze on. Strong cheeses, pâté, and cooked hams hanging from the cold interior walls of the refrigerated room are in endless supply. Pheasants, of course, will hang when in season.”
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