We might imagine the Royal Family dining at lavish State Banquets or sipping tea with sophisticated finger sandwiches but, off-duty, their diet can be a lot more, well, ‘normal’! One person who knows all about what goes on in the royal kitchen (for formal events as well as day-today) is Chef Visen Anenden, King Charles’ former personal chef.
‘I think the biggest misconception is that when you work for the royal family, everything is grand, spectacular, and bling,’ says Chef Visen, via Heart Bingo. ‘You think of money being thrown at everything, wastefulness, which is no such thing.’ Queen Elizabeth II was famous for her alleged insistence on storing leftovers, and it appears her son, the King, has taken on the habit. ‘If there were things left over, they were turned into a canapé for the next day. Nothing would be thrown away,’ says Visen.
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The Princess of Wales at the US State Banquet in September 2025.
And the scraps wouldn’t be left to the staff, either, says Chef Visen, who says they were, ‘always provided for when it came to food. There was no such thing as eating leftovers. [King Charles] treats his staff really well, and so does Camilla.’
Anwar Hussein
The late Queen Elizabeth II was known to store leftovers.
However, while inventive, waste-free meals were plentiful in the royal fridge-freezers, there was one thing that was banned from the kitchen – fizzy drinks. ‘No, never! It was a no-go,’ says Chef Visen. ‘Only the staff had fizzy drinks, but for them, no way.’ We won’t be seeing the King with a can of pop any time soon then!
Of course, with the Royal Family regularly travelling for their engagements around the UK and abroad, staff – including chefs – would accompany them on their journeys. That meant Chef Visen and his team needed to be adaptable to cooking in different environments – even on trains.
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King Charles disembarking the Royal Train back in 2005.
‘I cooked all over the place,’ he says. ‘I cooked on the royal trains for King Charles. That’s what I thought was amazing. Working for someone like that, you have to be so adaptable to the change of environment.’
With the changeable locations – whether it was on various modes or transport or between different residences – Chef Visen says the King was always patient. ‘You had to get used to moving around to different residencies and places that you were cooking. Charles gave you time to adapt. I would pick it up because I was quite adaptable and flexible. You work out how it’s going to work, speak to other chefs who have done it, and work out a plan from there. You would always have a backup plan too, in case things went wrong.’
Dining and Cooking