Why French President Emmanuel Macron and His Wife Brigitte Won’t Have a Problem With the Unexpected Food Served When King Charles Hosts Glitzy Banquet

King Charles and Queen Camilla are hosting French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife, Brigitte Macron, for a state visit to the U.K. from July 8 to July 10. Their visit will include a glitzy state banquet, which will be held at Windsor Castle’s St. George’s Hall.

The king and queen, along with several other members of the royal family, will attend the banquet. And what’s on the menu for the evening will surely be a hit with their French guests, according to the royals’ former chef.

Here’s more on that, plus why King Charles and Queen Camilla aren’t that easy to please when they travel for state visits.

King Charles and Queen Camilla are picky when they travel and send their hosts a list of food requests

It’s no secret that King Charles prefers to eat organic fruits and vegetables every day so if they’re not readily available in a country he and Camilla are visiting, they’ll have produce flown to them.

Carolyn Robb, who was Charles’ chef for 11 years, told the Daily Mail that the king “liked to have his own food with him.” She explained that he would have “piles and piles of cool boxes” of his own produce from Highgrove shipped to their locations.

In the documentary Secrets of the Royal Kitchen, another one of the monarch’s former chefs, Graham Newbould, said that Charles would make sure his “breakfast box” was sent with him on royal trips.

“Wherever the (now king) goes in the world, the breakfast box goes with him,” Newbould said, adding, “He has six different types of honey, some special mueslis, his dried fruit, and anything that’s a bit special that he is a bit fussy about.”

Moreover, when the royal couple is set to attend a state banquet or dinner in another country, they send their hosts letters in advance regarding what they like and do not like to eat.

Former royal chef shares what’s always served during state dinners that the Macrons won’t mind at all

Darren McGrady was a chef at Buckingham Palace for more than a decade cooking for Queen Elizabeth II. He was later transferred to Kensington Palace, where he worked as Princess Diana’s personal chef up until her death in 1997. 

Speaking on behalf of Heart Bingo, McGrady told Showbiz Cheat Sheet: “Traditionally for state banquets we used indigenous produce, but with 156 people we didn’t always have enough of what then-Prince Charles or the Queen Mother had caught fly fishing in the River Dee. So we used guinea fowl, farm produce, etc.”

McGrady then shared that what’s actually on the menu and served for dinner won’t pose any problems for the Macrons because “The first courses were often traditional French cuisine. Menus were in French — [Queen Elizabeth] spoke fluent French. Fish courses dated back to the early 1900s style — you’d often see quenelles or quills of fish like quenelle of halibut with lobster sauce. There’d be a basic salad course. Dessert was often a bombe glacée — an ice cream dish.”