One may imagine the dinner table at Buckingham Palace features a spread of the world’s finest delicacies and luxurious dishes.

However, the reality of what the Royal Family enjoys to eat seems very different to a regal feast.

For breakfast, porridge topped with honey is on the menu for Queen Camilla ,  according to her son the food writer Tom Parker Bowles in his new book, Cooking And The Crown.

King Charles previously skipped lunch but now eats half an avocado to keep him going until dinner, the Mail on Sunday recently revealed. While Catherine, Princess of Wales occasionally enjoys a spicy curry.

Read on below to see what the Royal Family loves to eat for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

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King Charles tucking in with fellow diners during the Royal tour of Australia in 2012

Breakfast

Queen Camilla likes to start her day with a hearty bowl of oats, reveals food writer Tom Parker Bowles in his book.

She ‘eats porridge every day’ during the winter months and has it ‘plain, aside from her own honey,’ collected from the beehives in the garden of her house in Wiltshire.

It is sold by Fortnum and Mason for £40 a jar, where the proceeds are donated to Mirabel – a charity that offers support for sexual assault survivors in Nigeria.

Charles, on the other hand, prefers honey and dried fruit for his breakfast, writes his stepson Tom.

Broadcaster Jeremy Paxman once claimed that the monarch had seven eggs boiled for him each morning and he would only eat one.

This was refuted by Charles, but it was even brought up in the Frequently Asked Questions section of his royal residence Clarence House.

The response said: ‘No, he doesn’t and never has done, at breakfast or any other time.’

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Queen Camilla enjoys lunch during the same visit to the Kilkenny Primary School in Adelaide, Australia in 2012

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Charles at a sustainability initiative in St Andrews Square during a visit to Edinburgh in 2010

Avocado, Your Majesty?

Until recently, the King did not eat at lunchtime.

It was something he felt was a ‘luxury’ that the busy monarch simply could not fit into his packed diary.

However, following his cancer diagnosis, King Charles has started to indulge in a light lunch to help keep up his strength after his wife and doctors urged him to do so and now eats half an avocado.

A source told the Mail on Sunday: ‘With some reluctance, he now has something to eat at lunchtime – a snack, really. He now eats half an avocado to sustain him through the day. It’s important, particularly if you have got an illness.’

A popular superfood, avocado is high in healthy fats and has recently become a trendy choice, often put in salads or on toast.

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The King at the South Oxfordshire Food and Education Alliance (SOFEA) surplus food distribution centre in Oxfordshire last year

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A popular superfood, avocado is high in healthy fats and has recently become a popular choice in salads and on toast

Camilla’s light lunches

While Charles now tucks into half an avocado, Camilla enjoys something different.

Her son wrote how chicken broth is a ‘lunchtime staple’ for Her Majesty, and the ingredients vary depending on the season.

In  winter, it may contain potatoes and cabbage, and in the warmer months peas, spinach and different beans, says Tom Parker Bowles.

Camilla is also partial to smoked salmon.

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Camilla and Charles were gifted a basket of organic vegetables during a visit to a primary school in Scotland in 2005

Afternoon tea

The late Queen Elizabeth enjoyed an afternoon tea every day, according to Tom Parker Bowles.

She would tuck into the spread with Prince Philip enjoying a selection of sandwiches, scones, biscuits and other treats.

It seems Charles has followed in his mother’s footsteps and also likes to have an afternoon tea with his wife at 5pm at Birkhall, his royal estate in Scotland.

The monarch is said to enjoy a variety of baked goods as well as sandwiches and even potted shrimps on occasion.

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The King and Queen enjoying an afternoon tea during a visit to a theatre in London in 2021

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The television sketch of Queen Elizabeth having afternoon tea with Paddington Bear in 2022

Dinner

Dinner time in the royal households varies massively.

Princess Kate likes to order  the odd takeaway curry, and has a preference for spice.

During a Radio 1 interview with Scott Mills for their Heads Together Campaign in 2017, the then Duke and Duchess of Cambridge revealed they order a curry while lounging in their comfortable clothes watching Homeland or Game of Thrones at Kensington Palace.

Scott asked: ‘So do you ever order takeaways? What’s your favourite?’ Kate admitted: ‘Absolutely and curry – definitely!’

The princess also revealed she enjoys cooking up a batch of curry for her family, but has to cater for their different spice preferences.

She said: ‘It’s so hard cooking curry for the family, the children have a portion with no spice.

Referring to William, she said: ‘Yours is medium, and I quite like it hot. Still, Charlotte is pretty good with heat.’

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Princess Kate and Prince William enjoying their visit to an Indian restaurant in Birmingham last year

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William and Kate visiting a fish and chip shop in Anstruther, Scotland in 2021

The couple also like a British classic – fish and chips. During their university days at St Andrews, where the pair first started dating, they were ‘regular customers’ at award-winning Anstruther Fish Bar in the coastal town of Anstruther.

They could not resist returning to the chippy for a ‘trip down memory lane’ in 2021 during their Scotland trip.

William and Kate ordered a £7.95 takeaway haddock supper, wrapped in paper, which they ate on a bench on the pier before going back for ice cream.

Camilla also enjoys this British favourite. In an interview talking to son Tom  for You Magazine, she told him how fish and chips wrapped in paper is one of her favourite foods.

Straying from the British classics, Prince George’s favourite meal is reportedly spaghetti carbonara.

Celebrity chef Aldo Zilli previously told Femail,: ‘[William’s] amazing – I’m waiting for the call because apparently his little boy’s favourite is spaghetti carbonara, so I’m waiting for the call to go and cook it for him.’

George’s love for pasta could stem from his parents, as Kate revealed in 2019 how William would cook spaghetti bolognese for her at university.

Speaking to Mary Berry on A Berry Royal Christmas in 2019, the mother-of-three said: ‘In our  university days he used to cook all sorts of meals. I think that’s when he was trying to impress me! Things like Bolognese sauce.’

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Camilla tucking into fish and chips in Bridlington in 2013

Prince George seems to be a fan of Italian food as he was also seen tucking into pizza during day four of the second Ashes Test at Lord’s, London last year.

During a break of the action, he enjoyed a slice of pizza, while William chatted to other guests in the box.

William and Harry were pizza fans when they were children too and former royal chef Darren McGrady previously told MailOnline that it was their favourite.

He said: ‘I didn’t start really cooking pizzas until I moved to Kensington Palace. William and Harry would have had it every night if Nanny had let them. They loved it.’

A ‘perfectly roasted chicken’ is the dish Meghan Markle turns to when hosting a dinner party.

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Prince George enjoying a slice of pizza, while William chatted to other guests  at Lord’s, including former prime minister Rishi Sunak

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William and Kate carrying pizza boxes during a visit to Dowlais Rugby Club last year

She previously told Good Housekeeping: ‘There is honestly nothing as delicious, or as impressive, in my opinion, as a perfectly roasted chicken.

‘It’s a game-changer. I bring that to dinner parties and make a lot of friends.’

It even featured in Prince Harry’s marriage proposal to his now wife as the couple were roasting a chicken when he got down on one knee.

The King forages for mushrooms as a hobby and enjoys them on his dinner plate too. Chef McGrady previously told Delish how Charles’s favourite meal is lamb with mushroom risotto.

He said: ‘He loves wild mushrooms and would take his chefs to Balmoral to show them where best mushrooms are. We brought back to Buckingham Palace and they were the most amazing porcini mushrooms.’

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Eating in, Meghan Markle in rom-com film When Sparks Fly in 2014

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Meghan cooking with women in the Hubb Community Kitchen in London in 2018

Dessert

As for dessert, the royals like to tuck into something sweet. The late Queen had a favourite treat – chocolate biscuit cake.

According to former royal chef Darren McGrady, the crunchy cake was a staple at the monarch’s afternoon teas.

Other members of the Royal Family shared her taste, as William even had chocolate as one of  the wedding cakes for his marriage to Kate in 2011 alongside a multi-tiered fruit cake.

It was a ‘firm favourite in the royal nursery’ for William and Harry when they were children, former chef to Charles and Princess Diana, Carolyn Robb previously said.

Kate seems to enjoy something sweet on occasion too, as her favourite dessert is sticky toffee pudding, according to former royal chef Darren McGrady.

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One of Queen Elizabeth’s favourite treats – chocolate biscuit cake