YOU may imagine a young Prince William and Prince Harry growing up eating their food in a grand dining room at the palace.

However, a former royal chef has revealed that the young princes ate in their nursery until they were around 10 years old.

Princess Diana and Prince William enjoying refreshments.
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Prince William and Prince Harry grew up eating in their nurseries instead of in the main dining areasCredit: Getty

Princes William and Harry watching a polo match, drinking juice and eating snacks.
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The boys would get served cottage pies and treacle tarts as part of their usual menuCredit: Getty

Kensington Palace in London, circa 1990s, with a statue in the foreground.
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The princes spent much of their childhood with Princess Diana at Kensington PalaceCredit: Getty
Speaking on The Sun’s Royal Exclusive show, Former Royal Chef Mervyn Wycherley, who worked at the palace for 33 years, gave insight into their boys’ upbringing.

He shared: “The children are in the nursery until they are about 10 with a nanny.

“And often the principals would go and dine in the nursery along with them, rather than have the children in the dining room.

“They really had the basic [meals]. It was all the old cottage pies and treacle tarts and all that sort of thing.

“Very, very nutritious and good, substantial food.”

During his time with the family, Mervyn said neither Prince William and Prince Harry showed a desire to be a budding chef themselves.

Mervyn added: “No, sometimes they got drafted by the nanny to go downstairs and help the chef.

“The Nanny was trying to get rid of them, so they sent them down to make pastry.

“That didn’t happen too often, thankfully.”

When they got older, protection officer Ken Wharfe recalled how Prince William and Prince Harry would sometimes leave the palace to go to restaurants with their friends.

However, it didn’t always go down well with King Charles having a unimpressed reaction when they went to Sticky Fingers restaurant in Kenginston for burgers.

Ken shared: “There was this sort of look of disdain with him across the prince’s face.”

Princes William and Harry playing on rocking horses in their playroom.
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Prince William and Prince Harry playing on a rocking horse in their playroom at Kensington PalaceCredit: Getty

Prince William assisting Prince Harry with his first steps in their Kensington Palace playroom.
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Prince Harry taking some of his first steps, guided by Prince WilliamCredit: Getty

Palace childhood

Prince Harry opened up about growing up at Kensington Palace in his bombshell Spare memoir, including playing on Princess Diana’s waterbed.

He wrote: “I remembered mornings in Mummy’s apartment at Kensington Palace, the nanny waking Willy and me, helping us down to Mummy’s bedroom.

“I remembered that she had a waterbed, and Willy and I would jump up and down on the mattress, screaming, laughing, our hair standing straight up.

“I remembered the breakfasts together, Mummy loving grapefruit and lychees, seldom drinking coffee or tea.

Prince William, Prince Harry, and their nanny wading through a river.
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William and Harry with their royal nanny, Tiggy Legge-BourkeCredit: Getty – Contributor
“I remembered that after breakfast we’d embark on the working day with her, sitting by her side during her first phone calls, auditing her business meetings.”

Meanwhile, at bedtime he would say goodnight to his late mother at the “foot of the stairs” and then would lie in bed “feeling so far away, so alone, and longing to hear her voice just one more time.”

He added: “I remembered my bedroom being the farthest from hers, and in the dark, in the terrible silence, being unable to relax, unable to let go.”