Princess Diana's dressing gown shock

11 November 2008

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Britain's Princess Diana once stunned workmen by greeting them in her dressing gown and tiara.

The late princess' former chef Mervyn Wycherley has spoken out about the 13 years he spent working for Diana and her ex-husband, Prince Charles, revealing Diana regularly visited the kitchen at Kensington Palace - including one encounter where she stunned workmen.

Mervyn said: "Diana was always popping into the kitchen at Kensington Palace. The green baize door would swing open and she would pop in to raid the fridge and have a chat. One day our service lift broke down and we had a couple of engineers in the kitchen.

The princess wanted a yoghurt from the fridge for her breakfast and she swept into the kitchen wearing just her dressing gown and the tiara

"It was the State Opening of Parliament that day and Diana's hairdresser Sam McKnight had already weaved a tiara into her hair. The princess wanted a yoghurt from the fridge for her breakfast and she swept into the kitchen wearing just her dressing gown and the tiara.

"She came out laughing her socks off saying, 'You do realise they're going to leave Kensington Palace thinking I always wear a tiara - even when I'm in my dressing gown!' "

The 59-year-old chef, who worked in the Royal household for 22 years, spoke out as he prepares to auction personal correspondence including a request by the Princess while pregnant to serve her bacon sandwiches for breakfast and a "much-needed rest from our friend the tomato".

Other highlights include a honeymoon letter, estimated to fetch £1,500, signed by Diana "with endless gratitude from a couple of overweight Wales' ", a Valentine card which said: "Hey Valentine! Not many men will receive a Valentine's card from Princess Diana... and you're one of them!!"

Mervyn also disclosed how the Prince of Wales picked vegetables from his Highgrove garden for dinner, passed on his own recipes to the chef, flew pheasants from the Queen Elizabeth's Sandringham estate for a banquet in the Tropics, and had his eggs boiled for precisely four minutes.The chef also said he was bombarded with notes from Charles praising him for the dinner parties he prepared for guests.The chef, who now runs his own catering company and has cooked for kings, queen, presidents, prime ministers and countless VIPs around the world, is selling his memorabilia at Reeman Dansie auctioneers in Colchester on November 24.

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