Who made a dog's dinner of cooking supper for one's corgis? Queen's shock as beloved dogs are fed reheated meals instead of freshly cooked



As far as the Queen is concerned, nothing but the best will do for her beloved corgis.



Indeed, staff often joke that her pampered pets eat better than the human members of the Royal Family.



And last week, she was shocked to find that the dogs’ supposedly freshly cooked meals were actually frozen and reheated.



Bad move: The Queen, pictured with one of her corgis in 1985, has had words with her catering department regarding her dog's food

According to sources, the Queen, who is on holiday at Balmoral, was furious when she made the discovery while dishing up her pets’ supper one evening.



So fond is the Queen of her dogs that she insists on serving their supposedly chef-prepared dinners herself.



But on this occasion it became apparent that the meal had been frozen as it had not properly thawed in the middle.

‘Quite simply she went bonkers,’ one royal insider told the Mail.



‘The Queen was half way through dishing out best quality cooked meat to her beloved dogs when she realised the centre of the dinner had not defrosted properly.



‘For years she has always demanded that all food for corgis is 100 per cent fresh, and when she found out that cooks had not been following her instructions she let her feelings be known.



‘A footman was summoned and told to go down to the kitchens where the chefs on duty were torn off a strip.



Ma'am's Best Friends

‘They were told in no uncertain terms that it should never, ever happen again and that all food had to be fresh. The chefs were acutely embarrassed and didn’t know what to say. Obviously one of them had been far too casual in his attitude and had just thought it was for the dogs, so it didn’t matter.



‘But he clearly didn’t know what they mean to the Queen.



‘Goodness knows if it was a one-off or if batches of food have been frozen and served up as fresh for years.



‘If the Queen finds out that is the case then heads may roll.’



Sources say that Buckingham Palace’s head chef, Mark Flanagan, was not at Balmoral at the time.



He took over from long-serving Lionel Mann in 2002 and initially upset some staff with his aggressive manner and cost-cutting methods.



But last year he was awarded an MVO of the Royal Victorian Order for his services.



Shock: Queen Elizabeth, pictured here greeting local corgi enthusiasts in Canada, was livid to find her own dogs were fed frozen food

‘Maybe Mark decided it would be easier to freeze several meals at once to save time and money or maybe a lower chef took it upon himself to cut corners and freeze a couple of meals,’ said the insider.



‘But whoever is responsible, the Queen has made it clear she is not amused – some senior servants are saying they haven’t seen her so angry in a long time.



‘People are saying this would never have happened in Lionel Mann’s day. He was at the Palace years and knew exactly what the Queen wanted.’



The Queen currently owns four corgis, named Linnet, Monty, Willow and Holly, and three dorgis – corgi-dachshund crossbreeds – called Cider, Candy and Vulcan.



When she has time, she likes to serve up the dogs’ main meal herself at around 5pm.



She scoops the cooked meat into several smaller bowls, using a fork to mix in biscuits and home-made gravy.



Former royal chef Darren McGrady, who worked at Buckingham Palace for 11 years, once revealed that a daily menu for the dogs would be typed up and posted on the kitchen wall.



‘They’d have poached chicken or liver, or rabbits shot by William and Harry which we’d clean, cook, debone and chop for them,’ he said.



‘We also baked scones which the Queen crumbled up and put on the floor for them.’

