Great British Bake Off legend Dame Prue Leith has opened up about the embarrassing blunder she made when she met the late Queen Elizabeth decades ago
Great British Bake Off’s Dame Prue Leith has shared a hilarious anecdote about the time she made an embarrassing mistake while serving tea to the late Queen Elizabeth.
The renowned chef, now a household name on British television, recently reminisced about her younger days when she had the rare privilege of meeting the Queen.
During an episode of the Making A Scene podcast, Dame Prue recalled the embarrassing incident that occurred over 50 years ago, when she was tasked with preparing a cup of tea for Her Majesty.
Speaking to podcast hosts Matt Lucas and David Walliams, she revealed how she went above and beyond to ensure the Queen’s tea was made exactly to her liking.
Despite contacting the Palace in advance to learn the Queen’s tea preferences, she was instructed to prepare a selection of options—including lemon tea and Earl Grey—for the Queen to choose from.
However, when the moment came to serve the Queen, Dame Prue admitted to making a series of errors, such as adding a slice of lemon to her black tea and diluting it excessively. She recalled: “She said, as it filled, ‘I like it strong.’ So the poor woman—she wanted a strong tea, and she got a lemony, weak tea.”
Even decades later, Dame Prue revealed that the Queen had her sweet revenge, joking: “Well, she got her revenge, because it took her 50 years to give me a damehood.”
Dame Prue was honoured with an OBE (Officer of the Order of the British Empire) in 1989 and later elevated to a CBE (Commander of the Order of the British Empire) in 2010.
The pinnacle of Royal recognition came in 2021, when she was awarded a damehood for her contributions to food, broadcasting, and charity work.
Expressing her joy on X, formerly known as Twitter, she wrote: “I’m not sure I deserve such a pat on the back for doing things that I’ve loved all my long life—in business or cooking or campaigning.”
Recently, the 85-year-old has reunited with Paul Hollywood, judging the efforts of contestants on The Great British Bake Off.
Just this week, viewers watched as the amateur bakers tackled pastry week, aiming to move one step closer to victory on the popular Channel 4 baking programme.