I'm not convinced by the Royal Family's Easter lunch choice - would you enjoy this unconventional side dish?

The Royal Family eat a full turkey dinner on Christmas Day and their Easter meal of choice is another roast - with an unusual addition. After attending church together on Easter Sunday they return to Windsor Castle where they go "straight into the main course", according to former royal chef Darren McGrady.

During Queen Elizabeth’s reign they dined on "traditional roast lamb with seasonal vegetables" and I can’t imagine King Charles straying from this established menu too much. So far, this sounds like a classic Easter meal, but Darren has previously revealed the other side dish: a compound salad.

The thought of salad with roast lamb and vegetables doesn’t immediately sound appealing to me and he explained what’s in it.

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"They'd also have a compound salad served in a kidney dish attached to the plate - just some lettuce and cucumber with a little mint or some grated carrot and coriander," Darren said.

This sounds delicious and very fresh, but it’s also a big temperature and texture contrast. I personally think I’ll be sticking to roast potatoes which many people enjoy with their Easter meal and which go a lot better with gravy than a compound salad. For all we know, King Charles has dispensed with this side dish now, though the royals do love tradition.

After the roast, Darren claimed that they used to enjoy a selection of fresh cheeses and, of course, a bit of chocolate. The Queen used to apparently give up eating chocolate during Lent and would enjoy indulging in her favourite treat at Easter.

The expert has described Queen Elizabeth as a "chocoholic" multiple times in the past and said that Windsor Castle’s chefs made their own Easter eggs decorated with sugared flowers to make them extra special. In 2021, a source alleged to Us Weekly that Prince George, Charlotte and Louis surprised Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip "with personalised Easter eggs, which they made and decorated themselves."

The trio also apparently baked "a delicious chocolate cake covered in mini Cadbury eggs" with a little assistance from their mum. Baking time with Kate seems like a Wales family tradition, as we’ve seen them in the kitchen preparing cakes for a street party in a video before.

However, the source added that George, Charlotte and Louis aren’t allowed sweets and chocolate all the time which probably makes Easter particularly exciting.

"They don’t allow George, Charlotte and Louis to have chocolate and sweets every day, so it was a real treat," the insider explained.

The Prince and Princess of Wales’s children seem to have inherited their great-grandmother’s sweet tooth and William has too. He and Queen Elizabeth shared a love of chocolate biscuit cake and this simple but decadent creation was the Groom’s Cake at his and Kate’s 2011 wedding.