White toast and an oat biscuit - Royal Family's coffee maid reveals what Queen has for breakfast

Audrey Taylor, who died last month, was the Deputy Head Royal Coffee Maid at Buckingham Palace for four years from 1990.

Her duties included assembling breakfast and tea trays for members of the Royal Family, details of which she kept in notes that are now being auctioned.

The Royal couple have moderate tastes when it comes to breakfast

Both the Queen and Prince Philip join millions around the country at breakfast time taking cereal, toast and tea for the Royal repast

One handwritten list entitled Queen And Duke’s Breakfast Tray shows that on a normal day the head of state and her husband eat food that would not look out of place on any British breakfast table.

The Queen is shown to be fond of white toast and an oat biscuit, while Prince Philip requests Ryvita and granary toast.

Notes on Royal breakfasts and teas written by former Deputy Head Royal Coffee Maid Audrey Taylor

Their morning requirements also include cereal boxes, brown sugar in a small pot, honey, syrup and marmalade.

Anxious to avoid spillages, they are also provided with six saucers and a ‘slop basin’. They like their teapot to be accompanied by a tea caddy as well as a small strainer with two handles.

Mrs Taylor was also given written daily orders listing times that visiting state dignitaries should be awoken, what they wanted for breakfast and any special requirements for other household members.

Prince Edward likes a dairy-weighted breakfast with milk, cream, butter and an egg to follow his cereal

The documents, which will be sold at auction on September 25, paint a mundane yet extraordinarily intimate portrait of Royal life.

They reveal that at tea-time the Queen and Duke request a loaf of bread, which it is stipulated has to be left whole.

It it is understood that the slicing is keenly executed by Prince Philip.

The Queen opts for pre-sliced when enjoying tea on her own.
She accompanies this with biscuits, warmed scones and cakes served on four small plates with doilies and a special scone napkin.

Prince Edward breakfasts on yogurt, cream, milk and butter and an egg – boiled for four minutes – with cereal and granary toast.

Princess Anne, meanwhile, enjoys kiwi fruits washed down with a glass of orange juice.

Other handwritten notes demonstrate how the requirements of younger Royals are met.

Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie, then only children, show evidence of healthy appetites.

Beatrice’s standard breakfast consisted of a large jug of warm skimmed milk and a boiled egg with a rack of three pieces of granary and three pieces of white toast.

As children Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie took eggs and toast

Her younger sister tended to opt for a boiled egg and two pieces of white toast ‘cut into fingers’.

The Duke and Duchess of York were content with cereal, toast, honey and marmalade and a jar of cream on their breakfast tray.

The records also list the dietary requirements of guests.

On one visit to the Palace, then Prime Minister John Major and his wife Norma ordered a hearty table breakfast of a compote of Royal garden fruit, cereals, eggs, bacon, tomatoes, fried bread, toast, rolls, marmalade and Indian tea.

John and Norma Major revealed a healthy appetite during their stay at Buckingham Palace

The Sultan of Brunei, after a state dinner in 1992, asked that a table breakfast be sent to his rooms in the Belgian Suite at 9am.

He and his wife, the Raja Isteri, demanded eggs boiled for five minutes.
The richest man in the world opted to wash these down with Nescafe instant coffee. His sister, Princess Amal Umi Kalthum Al-Islam, meanwhile, had kippers.

The Sultan of Brunei and his wife, the Raja Isteri, requested eggs for breakfast at the Palace, washed down with Nescafe instant coffee

Richard Westwood-Brookes of Mullock’s auction house in Ludlow, who will be selling the documents, said the entire collection was expected to fetch more than £2,000.

He added: ‘I think the menus are particularly interesting because they provide a rare insight into the workings of the Royal Household – and show it is much more complicated than people give the Royals credit for.’