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For years he cooked for Diana and her sons right up until that fateful day on August 31, 1997.
And now, 19-years on from her untimely death, chef Darren McGrady is remembering the moment like it was yesterday.
Taking to Twitter to reflect on the accident that changed the course of royal history, he wrote: “19 years ago today I had dinner prepared for a special lady and her boys.”
“She didn’t come home. #RIPPrincessDiana.”
Accompanying the heartbreaking post was a personally signed portrait of the late Princess.
“To Darren, love from Diana,” the framed image read.
Darren had the “honour” of watching Diana’s sons Harry and William grow into astounding young men.
The chef spent four years working for Prince William and Prince Harry’s mother.
Although he has previously admitted to forming a unique bond with Diana, he clarifies that he always thought of himself as “the chef” rather than “a friend.”
“I was always there, so sometimes she’d come in and vent about things she wasn’t happy with,” Darren previously confessed to Hello! Online.
“Other times I’d see her just burst into tears and it was like, ‘What do I say? What do I do?’ Other times she told a dirty, risqué joke and you think, ‘I can’t believe Princess Diana just said that!'”
The charismatic royal had a wonderful sense of humour.
Diana was tragically killed in a high-speed car crash in Paris almost two decades ago, leaving her sons, aged just 15 and 12 at the time, without a mother.
Darren has previously recalled what an “honour” it was to see Wills and Harry, now 34 and 31 – grow as young boys.
“I was just honoured to be in the right place at the right time and watch William and Harry grow up,” he says.
“She absolutely adored the two of them. She would be so thrilled right now with both of them, especially with Harry, with his charity work.
Harry only wants to make his mother proud.
He recounts that dinner was served to the cheeky brothers each night at 6:30pm, and when they dined as a family, Diana opted to spoil her boys with treats! This, however, often got them in trouble with their nanny…
“She wasn’t strict at all. She let them be boys, young boys! There was always a battle between her and Nanny. Nanny would say, ‘No, they’re eating their dinner, they’re having cabbage.'”
“And the Princess would say, ‘No, if they’re with me and they want loaded potato skins and fried chicken then they can have that. And if they don’t eat it and they still want pudding, they can have that too!’ She was much more relaxed than Nanny.”
WATCH: Prince Harry regrets not talking about his mother’s death. Post continues…
Speaking to MailOnline, the royal chef revealed the “comfort foods” that had Diana’s sons coming back for more.
“The boys would love to eat things like shepherd’s pie and banana flan,” he said. “They were royal Princes but they still had children’s palettes.”
“When I was cooking for the Princes, they loved pizza and potato skins stuffed with mozzarella.”
Diana loved to spoil her cheeky sons!
As for their mother, well, she often took a healthier, stricter approach to her diet.
“She was into healthy eating so we never had beef on the menu, unless the boys were home, and it was always chicken, fish or stuffed vegetables,” Darren quipped to Hello!, adding that she used to tell him: “You take care of the fats, I’ll take care of the carbs at the gym!”
WATCH: A young Princess Diana and Prince Charles speak about their relationship ahead of their 1981 wedding day.
