Queen Elizabeth is very "disciplined" with her diet.

The 91-year-old monarch has the option to eat a lavish banquet every day but her former chef Darren McGrady - who worked for the royal family from 1982 through to 1993 - has admitted she's not really "bothered" about food and likes to keep her meals to the basics - like grilled or poached fish with some vegetables and salad.

Speaking to CNN, he said: "The queen's not really bothered about food. All she cares about are horses and dogs. She's very disciplined like that. She could have anything she wanted, but it is that discipline that keeps her so well and so healthy."

While he was working in the residence, he asked the queen numerous times if she wanted to buy some new pots and pans but she'd rather spend the cash on horses.

He said: "The chefs and food and kitchens come last. They're still using pots and pans from the 1800s, with the Queen Victoria stamp on them, at Buckingham Palace. While working at the palace, I would ask the royals, 'Don't you want some new pots and pans?' She'd say: 'No, no, no, we need the money to buy horses and saddles.' "

And, although she doesn't have a particular interest in food, she does love chocolate.

He explained: "She's also a chocoholic. It has to be the dark chocolate, the darker the better. She wasn't keen on milk chocolate or white chocolate."

But she tries to keep fit by riding horses or walking her dogs around the Palace.

He said: "I don't think she has a weight room at Buckingham Palace, but she loves horse-riding and walking the dogs.

"She's 91 years young, and she still goes horse riding. She'll walk for miles with the dogs or just around the gardens at Buckingham Palace."