Buckingham Palace shares late Queen Elizabeth's secret to healthy diet, Prince William preference

The late Queen had remarkably uncomplicated preferences, particularly when it came to food, even for breakfast. 

A favorite morning ritual of hers was unveiled in the book "Dinner at Buckingham Palace," drawn from the diaries and personal memories of royal attendant Charles Olive. One extract reads: "Every day begins with an egg, and they're eaten for tea, too – with crumpets, if you're Prince Charles.

"The Queen favours brown eggs, believing that they taste better. Her great-great grandmother, Queen Victoria, ate her boiled egg, served in a golden egg cup, with a golden spoon."

According to House and Garden, the late Queen enjoyed a low-key start to her day, beginning with Earl Grey tea – minus milk and sugar – served with a side of biscuits, which she enjoyed alongside her corgis.

She then would eat her main breakfast in her private dining room in Buckingham Palace; cereal, yoghurt, toast and marmalade were said to be the monarch's favourites.

As for the late Queen's other breakfast preferences, she would occasionally enjoy kippers, which she used to eat with her late sister Princess Margaret as a child.

Dinner at Buckingham Palace further notes: "Kippers, in a number of uncomplicated variations, have remained a favourite with the Queen ever since – for breakfast, as a savoury or a late-night supper. The queen is also fond of smoked haddock as a breakfast dish."

Former royal chef Darren McGrady has previously spoken about the monarch's eating habits.

Asked what she would typically eat at dinner, he revealed: "For a main course she loved game, things like Gaelic steak, fillet steak with a mushroom whisky sauce, especially if we did it with venison,.

"For a first course she loved the Gleneagles pâté, which is smoked salmon, trout and mackerel. She loved using ingredients off the estate and so if we had salmon from Balmoral from the River Dee, she'd have that, it was one of her favourites."

He added: "We used a repertoire of dishes, mainly British and French food. We cooked a lot of traditional French food like halibut on a bed of spinach with a Mornay sauce."

For dessert, the Queen is said to have loved strawberries from Balmoral and white peaches grown at Windsor Castle, according to The Independent. She also had a soft spot for chocolate.

"It's like any mum with a son or grandson coming home. If Prince William was coming for tea it would be a chocolate biscuit cake. He loved those," he said.