Think royalty and you imagine silver cloches, foie gras, and roast grouse, not a craving for a McDonald’s Happy Meal mid-sail in the Ionian Sea. However, on a recent trip, the British royals, William, Kate, and their kids, encountered a situation that seemed like an everyday, ordinary moment for a regular family. Despite all its luxuries, the best chefs, gourmet food, and royal treatments, the $450 million superyacht Opera, currently cruising with Prince William and Kate through Greek waters, fell short. The child in their 12-year-old Prince George, craved a particular food item strongly enough to prompt an unscheduled stop in the Greek islands.
The off-the-menu food choice that even the seasoned chefs of the 479-foot luxury vessel of Abu Dhabi royal Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan couldn’t fulfill was perhaps a simple McDonald’s meal. One simply cannot argue with a craving for McDonald’s, but getting your hands on one in the middle of a pristine cluster of Greek islands can be tricky.
The young royal family had just left Kefalonia and were heading south in the Ionian Sea towards another island, Zakynthos. After dropping anchor some distance from the shore, a tender boat was dispatched on this tantalizing mission, according to the Greek outlet Enikos. Only one in a handful of Greek islands boasts a McDonald’s restaurant, which is what some locals are guessing this 12-year-old future King of Britain asked for.
It is no secret that the late Princess Diana often took her boys, William and Harry, to McDonald’s and KFC, a small ritual meant to give them a taste of ordinary childhood. The Princess of Wales, Catherine, is known not to emulate that behavior and prefers clean eating habits for the kids.
Still, this little episode is a heartwarming reminder that even royals, with all their privilege, are human too. They crave the same fries, the same comfort food. For a fleeting moment, the family that lives behind palace walls felt just like the rest of us. Of course, once they set sail again on their $450 million megayacht, reality returned, sailing in fast, like the scent of a freshly packed McHappy Meal.
That said, Prince George isn’t the only superstar with a soft spot for McDonald’s. He’s in good company. Beyoncé and Jay-Z, Kim Kardashian, Kylie Jenner, they all live large on superyachts, but every now and then, even they crave that unmistakable Happy Meal fix.