Princess Diana's favourite breakfast—overnight oats—has gone viral years after her death, and it's simple to make at home. The late Princess of Wales, known for her fitness and global fitness icon status in the late 1990s, reportedly ate this "untrendy" breakfast every day, long before it became popular.
Royal chef reveals the breakfast
Diana allegedly became obsessed with the dish after visiting a Swiss health clinic. Her former chef, Darren McGrady, shared the royal's favourite breakfast in a video on his YouTube channel. McGrady worked for the Royal Family since 1982 and specifically at Kensington Palace for Diana since 1993, cooking for her and her two sons, Prince William and Prince Harry.
In the video, McGrady said: "When I became Princess Diana's chef, she got her life back on track. She was a patron of 119 different charities, she was working out at the gym three days a week, and just looking the best she ever did. She said, 'Darren, you take care of all the fats, and I'll take care of the carbs at the gym.' Now this meant she was now eating healthy, and her go-to breakfast was something called overnight oats."
A recipe from a Swiss clinic
McGrady revealed that although overnight oats became popular around 2012, Diana had been having them every day for nearly 20 years, starting in 1993. He explained: "She actually went to a Swiss health clinic, and there she had these overnight oats. They were actually called Bircher Muesli, and they were invented by a Swiss nutritionist. She thought they were really, really good and all the ingredients were super healthy. She stole the recipe, came back and said, 'Darren, I want these for breakfast every day.'"
The chef detailed the recipe, which involves soaking rolled oats in orange juice overnight, then adding Greek yoghurt, honey, and lemon juice. He finished by grating an apple over the oats, along with blueberries and walnuts. McGrady admitted: "Now, I have to admit that when I was making this at Kensington Palace for Princess Diana, it was so good, I actually doubled the recipe so that the chef got it for breakfast, too."
The full recipe
Here is the recipe as shared by McGrady, serving two: Ingredients include 1 cup rolled oats, 1 cup freshly squeezed orange juice, 1 cup Greek yoghurt, 1 tablespoon raw honey, 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon (optional), 1/2 honey crisp apple, juice of 1 lemon, 1 cup fresh blueberries, and 1/2 cup toasted walnuts. Instructions: Add the orange juice to the oats, stir, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate overnight. Stir in the Greek yoghurt, honey (to taste), and lemon juice. Grate the apple, add to the oats, and fold in. Add half of the blueberries and stir. Spoon into a serving dish and decorate with the remaining blueberries and walnuts.
