Dame Prue Leith recalls restaurant blaze during Royal visit
Dame Prue Leith tackled a fire in her restaurant's kitchen when Princess Margaret came for a visit.
Dame Prue Leith battled a blaze in her restaurant’s kitchen when Princess Margaret visited.
The 'Great British Bake Off' judge and her team could not afford anything to go wrong when the late Queen Elizabeth's sister - who died in 2002 aged 71 - dined at her Michelin-starred restaurant 'Leith's', in Notting Hill, London, which she sold in 1995, but they were sent into a state of panic when flames sparked in the kitchen
Asked if any famous faces have left a lasting impression on her, she told Best magazine: "Hundreds, especially the Royals, because you can't afford for anything to go wrong.
"Princess Margaret also came to my restaurant once, and we managed to set the kitchen on fire."
However, this was not the only time a Royal visit went wrong as the 85-year-old cook recalled an embarrassing moment when she made tea for Queen Elizabeth, who died in September 2022 aged 96.
Prue revealed: "I also had to give Queen Elizabeth a cup of tea once, and I asked her how she liked it, and she told me, 'Black', so I poured a bit of tea into the tea cup and added some lemon, and she said, 'No lemon.'
"I had to get a cocktail stick and fish the lemon out as I had no other cup.
"I then filled up her tea cup with water, and she said, 'I like it strong,' but she got a lemony, weak tea instead..."
Prue recently admitted that she is not a fan of Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, and she will not be tuning into her new Netflix cookery show 'With Love, Meghan'.
While appearing on the ITV1 morning news programme 'Good Morning Britain' on March 14 to plug her ITV1 cooking series 'Prue Leith’s Cotswold Kitchen', she gave a blunt response to co-host Rob Rinder's question about if she will be watching.
She answered: "No, I’ve only read about it but I honestly wouldn’t watch it.”
Prue continued: "I’m not a Meghan Markle fan.
“All that touchy-feely, endless worrying about what creams you put on your hands.
“I just think there’s more to life than how you look and how your friends think of you.
“I’ve probably alienated half my fans.”
