Former Royal Chef Says it “Sounds Crazy,” But Princess Diana Used to Eat One Surprising Meal Before Working Out

The first thing that comes to mind when most people picture Princess Diana going to the gym is her iconic biker shorts and sweatshirts, but former royal chef Darren McGrady said that she had a lesser-known morning routine.

According to McGrady, Diana, who was frequently photographed at London gym the Chelsea Harbour Club in scrunchy socks and lycra, had a slightly odd favorite breakfast that helped fuel her workouts.

“I used to cook beans for breakfast at Buckingham Palace and Princess Diana loved them,” the chef said in a video on his YouTube Channel. “She'd actually eat a whole tin of beans for breakfast.”

“Sounds crazy, but when you think about it, there's only seven grams of sugar in the English-style baked beans, they're rich in protein, high in fiber, very low in fat,” McGrady explained.

He continued that beans were “perfect” for the late princess to get “that really big carb boost ready for going to the gym and doing a workout.”

Another fiber-packed favorite of Diana's was overnight oats, and McGrady noted that his former boss was way ahead of the trend. “She actually went to a Swiss health clinic, and there she had these overnight oats,” McGrady said on YouTube, adding that they "were actually called bircher muesli, they were invented by a Swiss nutritionist.”

“She stole the recipe, came back, and said Darren, I want these for breakfast every day,” he recalled.