Families across the UK will be celebrating Easter this Sunday, possibly enjoying a roast dinner, an egg hunt in the garden and plenty of chocolate goodies.
The Royal Family also like to do this, with Kate Middleton revealing last year that Prince William couldn’t stop eating chocolate ahead of the occasion.
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge usually spend Easter with their family and often see the Queen and cousins Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie at Windsor Castle.
The pandemic will likely have thrown a spanner in their plans somewhat this year like for the rest of us, but at least they’ll have some fond memories of the holiday to look back on.
And there’s one memory in particular that likely stands out – but for all the wrong reasons.
Former royal chef Darren McGrady explains that one year, when the younger royals were children, he decided to make a Hickory Dickory Dock nursery rhyme-themed chocolate egg for them.
Speaking to OK! magazine, he said: “It had a clock on the top striking one and a sugared mouse peeking out of a mousehole.
“We sent it up to the nursery on the silver tray, but 15 minutes later the Footman brought it back.
“He said, ‘Nanny asked me to return this. Prince William has just stood on a chair and bitten the mouse’s head off, frightening Beatrice and Eugenie.'”
Oh dear…
Darren went on to say that he jumped to action, quickly making another mouse to replace the one Prince William had destroyed.
He continued to say: “We had to quickly make another mouse, pop it in the hole and send it back to the nursery.
“I think Nanny put the egg out of William’s reach to make sure it didn’t happen again.”
The Royal Family’s Easter Sunday activities are quite traditional, including a fish dinner on Good Friday.
On Easter Sunday they usually go to St George’s Chapel – Meghan Markle and Prince Harry’s wedding venue – for a service before heading back for a four-course lunch.
Darren added: “We’d go straight into the main course – a traditional roast lamb with seasonal vegetables.
“The Queen likes her meat well done so she’d always have the first two slices.
“They’d also have a compound salad served in a kidney dish attached to the plate – just some lettuce and cucumber with a little mint or some grated carrot and coriander.”