Queen Elizabeth eats bananas with a knife and fork, according to her former footman.
Paul Burrell worked as a footman for the 90-year-old royal before he became the butler for the late Princess Diana, and used his recent appearance on UK game show ‘Through The Keyhole’ – in which host Keith Lemon visits the home of a celebrity and a panel of guests must decipher whose home it is – to show audiences how the Queen reportedly eats the potassium-rich fruit.
He said on the show: "It’s knowing how to hold a knife and fork to begin with, you never see the handles.
"To eat a banana properly in society or at a dinner party…this is how the Queen does it.
"You split open the belly, some people eat it like a monkey of course…
"Now you cut it up into small bite-size pieces and then you eat it…with your knife and fork."
And it isn’t just bananas that the Queen likes to indulge in, as her former chef Darren McGrady revealed she is a "chocoholic".
He said previously: "The Queen loves chocolate. She’s a chocoholic. I think for Her Majesty it’s about small portions. She’s very disciplined. So a tiny piece of chocolate cake and then back to the kitchen.
"The chocolate biscuit cake goes out again and again and again until it’s all gone. It’s the Queen’s favourite but also William’s favourite too. The Queen would take a mental picture of the chocolate cake and if any of it was gone, she’d actually ask, ‘Who’s been eating the chocolate biscuit cake?’"
But one food substance the monarch won’t be seen eating, is garlic.
Darren said: "One of the things we couldn’t use on the menu was garlic. The Queen doesn’t like garlic. It’s an old Victorian thing, the after-taste of the garlic.
"We never used garlic when the Queen was at the table. But Prince Philip loved it, so when the Queen wasn’t there we could use it."