TV chef James Martin has opened up about the time he was invited to Buckingham Palace for lunch with the Queen and Prince Philip – and witnessed the Duke of Edinburgh telling his wife off
Christopher Sharp Trendswatch Reporter
15:31, 13 Nov 2025
James Martin claimed the late Queen was told off by one senior royal at lunch(Image: WPA Pool, Getty Images)
Celebrity chef James Martin has claimed that Prince Philip once told off Queen Elizabeth II in his presence for repeatedly feeding biscuits to her corgis.
The 53-year-old said the late Duke of Edinburgh scolded the late monarch for giving digestive biscuits to her beloved dogs during a lunch he was invited to attend.
Speaking on the Good Housekeeping UK podcast, James recalled being invited to Buckingham Palace for an intimate lunch with just six guests, where the Queen brought along her dogs, reports the Mirror.
Remembering the surreal experience, he said: “The Queen was one I had lunch with her, six of us, six of us at a table, the Queen sat opposite.
“She’d invited me to Buckingham Palace and I arrived in a suit and I thought I’d got the wrong room because I’m with a lady who sells rhubarb.
“Next minute the door opened, in comes the corgis, Prince Philip walked in and she stood there and said, ‘Shall we have lunch?’ And the door opened up and there’s a table for six and I sat opposite the Queen for three hours.
“He [Prince Philip] was telling her off, she’d got this little box of biscuits, they’ve got a silver box of biscuits, digestives, she used to feed them to the dogs. The dogs are getting a sugar rush and they’re going mental all over the place, it’s brilliant. That and my gran.”
Prince Philip and Queen Elizabeth II(Image: Tim Graham/Getty Images)
This isn’t the first time James has spoken about meeting Queen Elizabeth II. In a 2020 interview with Hello! magazine, he reflected on their conversation — and one regret he had about the encounter.
He told the publication: “They pick random people, some in the public eye, some not. There was only eight of us for lunch; it was magical. The only thing I regret is that my grandmother wasn’t alive to witness it because she was a huge fan.
“We chatted about dogs, about life. She’s very polite, it was great. You don’t remember what you said because you were so nervous – you can’t believe you’re having a one-on-one conversation with the Queen for 45 minutes.”
James Martin (Image: VALERY HACHE, AFP via Getty Images)
James has previously spoken about the influence of his family on his career. Appearing on the Road To Success podcast with Benedict Fowler, he said his grandmother was one of his greatest inspirations — even comparing her presence to that of Queen Elizabeth II.
He said: “It sounds daft talking about your granny, but if I could be 10% of what my granny is, I’d be 110% a better person [than I am now].
“My granny, it sounds daft, but my granny was the same [as Queen Elizabeth], because she’d walk into a room and I don’t know if it was how I was brought up, but you were told respect and you shut up and listen. And I valued that so much.”