Darren McGrady, a former personal chef for Queen Elizabeth II, Princess Diana, and Princes William and Harry, fired off a tweetstorm aimed at Meghan Markle after the Duke and Duchess of Sussex announced Wednesday that they were stepping back as “senior” members of the royal family.
In the string of four tweets, McGrady ― who goes by “The Royal Chef” on his website and on social media ― said that Prince Harry was being “manipulated” and that Meghan “just wanted to be famous.”
Watch: The story behind Meghan and Harry’s roast chicken proposal. Story continues below.
“People saying Princess Diana would be proud don’t know Princess Diana. She would have been furious that Harry had been so manipulated,” he wrote, adding the hashtag “Sad Day.”
In a follow-up, he wrote, “I remember Princess Diana in the kitchen at Kensington Palace talking about ‘her boys’ ... ‘William is deep like his father. Harry is an airhead like me’ I guess she nailed it.” (Harry was 12 when his mother died in 1997.)
HuffPost reached out to McGrady for additional comment.
McGrady routinely gives interviews as a royal expert and offers up anecdotes about his time working for the royals for a reported 15 years. Just Wednesday, he was featured in an article about one of Kate Middleton’s favourite recipes. He has written two cookbooks called “Eating Royally: Recipes and Remembrances from a Palace Kitchen” and “The Royal Chef at Home: Easy Seasonal Entertaining.”
Watch: Darren McGrady explains how to make Prince Harry’s favourite snack. Story continues below.
According to the About page on his website, he has also cooked for four U.S. presidents. The former royal chef still works as a private chef.
On Wednesday, Harry and Meghan shocked fans around the world as they announced that they would be stepping back from their current royal roles.
“After many months of reflection and internal discussions, we have chosen to make a transition this year in starting to carve out a progressive new role within this institution,” they said on their Sussex Royal Instagram account.
“We intend to step back as ‘senior’ members of the Royal Family and work to become financially independent, while continuing to fully support Her Majesty The Queen,” adding that they would also be splitting time between the U.K. and North America.
Subscribe to HuffPost’s Watching the Royals newsletter for all things Windsor (and beyond).
Also on HuffPost: