“I’m really sad. I think it’s the end of a dynasty, a part of history,” chef John Higgins, a Food Network judge and former director of George Brown’s Culinary School, told CTV News Toronto.
He remembers the Queen as gracious, regal and elegant during her two years in the kitchen at Buckingham Palace and Balmoral, starting in 1980.
“She liked duck, mangoes and chocolate cake,” Higgins said. “It was very good product well cooked with consistency and no fluff. Even for dogs.”
Among his memories of the Queen, several stand out. At the time, Higgins was a keen cyclist and crossed paths with the Queen as she set off for a ride from Balmoral in spandex.
“He said, ‘Are you out for a bike ride?’ he remembers. After describing his route to the Queen, he is said to have smiled and replied: “I think I would drive. There are so many hills there.’
On another occasion, the Queen hosted her annual Ghillies Ball at Balmoral, a decades-old tradition of delighting the household staff by throwing a Scottish dance. There, he danced with the Queen and the rest of the royal family.
“I was in shock,” he said. “You get so up close and personal. It was a privilege to see her interact.”
But at the end of the day, royals are “normal people,” he said. “Every day they get up and hopefully brush their teeth and all the things that normal people do. But at the same time, they had a constitution of things to do,” Higgins said.
“He was the glue that held the whole thing together, the binder that held the pages together.”
