The Gist
King Charles reportedly banned two vegetables from being grown at his Highgrove home gardens.
A former gardener shared the produce that Charles has an aversion to, as well as his favorites.
Charles’s former royal chef Darren McGrady previously told InStyle that Charles has the same breakfast every morning sourced from his garden.
King Charles is a “foodie” with strong opinions about what’s served on the royal menu—and the same attention to detail extends to what his staff grows in the royal kitchen gardens. In a new interview, a former royal gardener revealed the vegetables that Charles has “banned” from being grown at his country home Highgrove as well as the produce he’s partial to.
King Charles at Highgrove on March 27, 2026
Credit: Getty Images
David Pearce, who said he worked as a gardener at the property’s kitchen garden for a year during the pandemic, told The Metro that the beds reflected Charles’s palate, with his favorite produce on display. “Things like cauliflower, and he particularly liked his crudité carrots,” Pearce recalled, revealing that the team would have to “grow them to a particular size” of a pinky finger. He also revealed that there was plentiful lettuce for salad and two beds of asparagus, explaining, “It was mostly working with him and his individual preferences.”
King Charles eating at Highgrove with David Beckham on March 27, 2026
Credit: Getty Images
According to the gardener, Charles also liked spinach, onions, leeks, and “Florence fennel.” While the king enjoyed a variety of greens, he had a few notable aversions. “Squash was off the cards, and absolutely no courgettes,” Pearce told the outlet.
King Charles during a visit to Dumfries House on April 22, 2026 in Cumnock, Scotland.
Credit: Getty Images
Charles’s tastes extended to fruit as well—especially at breakfast. Former royal chef Darren McGrady previously told InStyle that Charles sources the same breakfast every day from the gardens at Highgrove: two plums. “The instruction was to put two plums and a little juice into the bowl, and send it in to him for breakfast,” McGrady revealed. “I’d send in two plums and he would take one, so it would come back out after breakfast, and I’d put the other plum back into the jar and save it.”
McGrady opened up further about Charles’s preferences as well as the rest of the royal family, sharing that the group is not afraid to “delete” an item off the menu if it doesn’t follow certain criteria. “If I put strawberries on the menu in January, there would be a huge thick black marker through the menu book deleting those strawberries,” McGrady shared.
Read the original article on InStyle
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