Randy Shropshire/ Jayne Fincher, Getty Images
- Princess Diana's personal chef said she would offer to make him coffee and ask him about dating.
- Darren McGrady told Insider the royal often spoke candidly to him about her life.
- He said he always called her "Your Royal Highness" to remind himself she was a future king's mother.
Princess Diana's former personal chef said the royal would offer to make coffee for him and talk to him about his dating life.
Darren McGrady, whose website notes that he worked directly with Diana for four years at Kensington palace from 1993 until her death in 1997, told Insider that they could talk candidly for hours.
Prior to working for Diana, McGrady said he spent 11 years working at Buckingham Palace from 1982.
"If the Queen came into the kitchen, you stood to attention out of respect," he said. "But when Princess Diana came in the kitchen she'd say, 'I need a coffee. I'll make it. I'll make you one.'"
McGrady, who is portrayed by Sean Harris in Pablo Larraín's 2021 biopic "Spencer," added that the Princess of Wales would also ask about his personal life.
"She would say, 'So what's happening at home? Have you got a girl? Are there any girlfriends on the scene?'" he said.
He added that he would make a conscious effort to refer to her as "Your Royal Highness" during informal conversations so he remembered that even if she would never be Queen, she was still the future king's mother.
Due to his close working relationship with the royal, he said Diana confided in him about everything from the royal family to her enjoyment of British soap operas.
"She would come through and talk about what the royals were saying. She'd come and talk about what was going on in her life with the Prince of Wales and the boys. She'd talk about what was on TV," said McGrady.
He said that due to the sheer amount of time they spent together, he came to know Diana well. As a result, he is often outspoken about how accurate film and television depictions of her are.
Speaking to Insider's Mikhaila Friel in January 2021, McGrady said Netflix's "The Crown" was wrong to suggest Diana and Charles were never in love. More recently on his YouTube channel, he outlined all the details he thinks "Spencer" got right and wrong about the princess and the royal family as a whole.