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The Queen enjoys a luxury hamper from Fortnum & Mason every year on Christmas. Elizabeth II enjoys the treats within with her family at Sandringham.
Fortnum & Mason’s “Sovereign Hamper” costs an unbelievable £2,500, although not at much as the new product, the Imperial Hamper at £6,000.
Former royal butler Paul Burrell, who worked in the British Royal Household and latterly as a butler to Princess Diana, spoke on Channel 4’s A Very Royal Christmas: Sandringham Secrets.
He said: “The Queen’s royal Christmas hamper, of course, comes from the Queen’s greengrocers, Fortnum & Mason in Piccadilly.
“It’s like an Aladdin’s Cave really.”
He described the famous hamper and said: “There is everything from turkey and ham, and foie gras.”
Foie gras, of course, is controversial because it is made by force-feeding ducks.
Paul added the hamper includes “Champagne and claret” and “chocolates and goodies to eat after dinner.”
Royal expert and author Katie Nicholl added: “It really is a hamper like no other packed with hundreds of the Queen’s favourite treats.
“And not just any foie gras, this is a fois gras en croute.”
Foie gras en croute is the classic duck liver pate with black winter truffles in pastry.
Paul went on: “It comes in an enormous laundry hamper with F&M on the side. It’s a sign of class.”
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Fortnum’s Sovereign Hamper contains “everything you need to throw the finest celebrations this festive season.
“You’ll find every biscuit, butter and bauble nestled in this aptly named wicker – ensuring you can hunker down in front of the fire and ignore those cold winter days outside.”
The Imperial Hamper, on the hand, contains 83 items, coming in five baskets.
A royal chef on the programme also delved in to what the Queen eats on Christmas.
Darren McGrady, personal chef to the Royal Family explained: “It doesn’t just start the day before Christmas, it’s weeks and weeks and weeks before.
There’s so much planning involved. You’ve got to order all the turkeys, Christmas puddings have to be made and the way Sandringham works is there was no equipment there because Sandringham was used by the Prince of Wales, the Queen’s chefs didn’t leave any equipment here in the kitchen because we’d lose it.”
On Christmas Eve the family eat duke or lamb with souffle for dessert.
He also described the Queen’s favourite Christmas dessert.
Mr McGrady explained the truely delicious sounding dessert.
He said: “It’s a rich pastry shell and then in there it has a layer of cinnamon, meringue and then some whipped cream with more meringue into that and then a layer of chocolate and like a chocolate meringue on top of that and then lots of grated chocolate on top of that as well.
“When you cut into in there are all these layers and it’s just so rich and so creamy.
“It’s the perfect pudding for that time of year for Christmas.”
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