Inside Princess Diana's Struggle With Balmoral: Former Royal Chef Claims She Didn’t Like Royal Residence 'at All' and Preferred Life in London

Princess Diana reportedly wasn't a fan of staying at Balmoral Castle, as a former royal chef suggested she preferred her life in London.

While speaking to Smooth Spins Casino, former royal chef Darren McGrady confessed that the Scottish castle wasn't Diana's style, as she wasn't a fan of the outdoors.

"She wasn’t an outdoor person or into horse riding because she fell off a horse when she was young," the former employee claimed. "For her, the closest she would get was pulling and walking [Prince] William with his little Shetland pony, Smokey, around the estate. That was as close as she got to the horses."

The chef claimed that the late princess, who died at 36 years old in 1997, would have rather been in London at Kensington Palace, "where she could go to Harvey Nichols shopping or lunch with friends."

"She loved all that. The Princess was also an early bird, so she liked to get up early, around 7 a.m., then be in bed at 8 p.m. at the latest," he explained. "Dinner for her was 6:30 p.m., but if the royal family were dining, she couldn’t go to eat or go to bed at her usual time."

The chef claimed that the royal family often wouldn't return to the castle until 11 p.m., forcing her to stay up. "She didn't like Balmoral at all," he alleged.

He also revealed intimate details about the mother-of-two's evening bedroom routine.

"She would often pop her head into the kitchen and tell me she was going for a bath, so would be ready for dinner in 30 minutes," he recounted. "She’d later come into the kitchen in a white towelling robe, bare feet, with wet hair. She looked stunning and amazing."

Diana stayed at Balmoral Castle several times prior to her death; her first visit was in May 1981 before she married King Charles, when she famously nearly suffered a wardrobe blunder.

As OK! previously reported, Diana was only 19 when she arrived at Balmoral with just a single evening dress for a three-night visit.

"For a teenager entering that world for the first time, arriving with only one evening dress was seen as a potential social disaster," sources told OK! on June 20.

A second insider added, "The irony is that Diana would go on to redefine royal fashion, but during that first visit she was still a young woman trying to find her place and almost committed what is considered one of the royal family's ultimate fashion sins."

She returned for the annual royal family holidays every summer throughout the 1980s before her separation from the future king, 77, in 1992.