Royal family’s weirdly strict eating rules: 7 surprising foods completely forbidden

If you imagine the royal family being spoiled rotten as far as their feasts are concerned, with all the riches of the world at their feet, you might want to give it another thought.

Despite virtually no worldly blessing being out of their reach, members of the Crown are not entirely permitted to enjoy food, of all things, as they please.

With their strict approach to most things in life, their food choices are apparently no different.

As bizarre as it sounds, there is in fact a surprising amount of ordinary cuisine the royal family is forbidden to consume.

Here are about seven such items:

Sandwiches with square corners

Good luck trying to persuade a royal family member to munch on some delicious square cut sandwiches without them thinking you mean a great deal of offence.

Yes, that’s right — owing to a superstition going back generations, royals believe that being offered food with pointed edges means that there is an effort to sabotage the Crown.

“The royals never have square sandwiches because tradition has it that anyone presenting them with pointed-edged food is trying to overthrow the throne of England,” revealed former royal chef Graham Newbould in the documentary, Secrets of the Royal Kitchen.

To that extent, one of Queen Elizabeth’s favourite sandwiches was actually round in shape — a childhood delight known as jam pennies.

Foie gras

There is a better, more noble, reason the royal family does not dine on foie gras — and it has all to do with animal rights.

Since this delicacy is prepared by forcefully feeding ducks or geese to fatten their liver, which is the organ that is served as part of the meal, King Charles banned the French dish outright back when he was the Prince of Wales.

The ban was put into place in 2008, while Justin Kerswell of campaign group Viva! (Vegetarians International Voice for Animals) praised the King’s decision at the time, noting, “Foie gras is seen as very posh and the heir to the throne is probably the poshest person in Britain, so for him to ban it is very good news.”

Spices

Ironically, the one reason specifically outlined and well known for the British establishment’s scourge of colonialism, is the ingredient which has been left entirely off the menu for the royal family today.

Since the possibility of stomach disruptions is too high for consumers of spicy food, senior royal family members are strictly advised against it.

Though it is also known that the Duke of Edinburgh, Queen’s husband, liked to have a good spicy curry from time to time — however, only in his wife’s absence, per another ex chef for the royals, Darren McGrady.

Shellfish

Shellfish is a rather famously known food which is off limits for the royal family, and the reason once again has to do with health concerns.

While considered incredibly scrumptious and a versatile cuisine, seafood is largely avoided by the royal family due to the various toxins it is also known to carry, which can induce hazardous symptoms in a matter of minutes and would obviously derail the very publicised engagements which the royals undertake most of the time.

“When dining, the Royal Family has to be careful with shellfish due to shellfish poisoning, due to their work schedules. Therefore you will not normally find this on the royal menu,” former royal butler and etiquette expert Grant Harrold told the Daily Express.

Out of season food

The royal family does not prefer to gorge on unseasonal fruits and vegetables, thank you very much.

They would rather consume organic food and that which grows during its natural season of production, which technically is the general guideline, but not able to be practiced by everyone due to the lack of means.

For instance, the late Queen would never eat unseasonal strawberries — “don’t dare send me genetically modified strawberries”, she would say, per former royal chef Darren McGrady — while King Charles went organic a long time before it was even in vogue to do so.

Carbs

The true scope of the lack of colour in the royal family’s lives is probably defined by their dietary rule against carbohydrates and food rich in starch, specially pasta and potatoes.

That’s right — if one were to live as a royal, the most gloriously fulfilling food like pasta would have to be taken off the menu.

While this restriction was all the former Queen’s doing, Kate Middleton once revealed that her children, Princess Charlotte in particular, are huge pasta fans and even indulge in cooking “cheesy pasta” for their mother, according to PEOPLE.

Garlic

Hopefully you saved your ire and/or astonishment so far, because the last ingredient on this list of no-gos is truly the most painful one.

Yes, the royal family does not include garlic in their food — inarguably the element which brings any and every cuisine alive — because of the foul breath it is known to induce in its consumers.

Once again, it was Queen Elizabeth’s whims that dictated the denial of garlic to the House of Windsor, with Queen Camilla even admitting during a media appearance for MasterChef that while she hated to say it, “garlic is a no-no” when preparing food for a royal gathering.