The Queen's chef recalled cooking for Her Majesty

Following the death of Queen Elizabeth II, a popular Toronto chef is recalling his years cooking for Her Majesty at Buckingham Palace and Balmoral Palace.

“I'm really sad. I think it's the end of a dynasty, a piece of history,” chef John Higgins, former director of the George Brown Culinary School and Food Network judge, told CTV News Toronto.

He remembers the Queen as kind, graceful and elegant during her two years in the kitchen at Buckingham Palace and Balmoral from 1980.

“He liked duck, mango and chocolate cake,” Higgins said. “It was a really good product with a good consistency and no fluff. Even for dogs.'

Among his memories of the queen, a few stand out. At the time, Higgins was a keen cyclist and crossed paths with the Queen when she rode from Balmoral in spandex.

“He said, 'Did you go for a bike ride?' he said,” he recalls. After showing the Queen his way, he replied with a smile, “I think I would drive. There are so many hills there.”

Chef John Higgins during his time in the Royal Household (supplied). On another occasion, the Queen hosted the annual Ghillies Ball at Balmoral, a decades-old tradition of thanking staff in residence by throwing a Scottish dance. There he danced with the queen and the rest of the royal family.

“I was shocked,” he said. “You get very up close and personal. It was an honor to see him interact.”

But at the end of the day, the royal family are “normal people,” he said. “They expect to get up every day and brush their teeth and all the things that normal people do. But at the same time, there was a regiment of things they had to do,” Higgins said.

“He was the glue that held everything together, the binder that held the pages together.”