It seems that eight-year-old Prince Louis has taken after his great-grandmother when it comes to his preferred snack. The late Queen had a serious sweet tooth and loved chocolate, but her teatime essential was slightly healthier and Louis apparently eats the same thing in the car.
Prince William revealed this in a recent appearance on Heart Breakfast, where he was asked if the morning school run is chaotic. He admitted it can be, depending on what's going on, and said, "There's a lot of jam sandwiches taken in the car usually."
Giving his youngest son a specific shout-out, the dad-of-three added, "Louis will leave jam fingerprints throughout the car, which is really helpful."
I suspect Queen Elizabeth never indulged in a messy jam sandwich while she was in a car, but she reportedly enjoyed them with her afternoon tea. On the Channel 5 documentary, Secrets of the Royal Kitchen, former royal chef Graham Newbould claimed she was served "jam penny sandwiches", round and crustless, instead of ones with "points". This is an old custom with a rather surprising reason behind it.
"The royals never have square sandwiches because tradition has it that anyone presenting them with pointed-edged food is trying to overthrow the throne of England," Graham explained.
Meanwhile, on his YouTube Channel fellow former royal chef Darren McGrady has previously shared that the Queen was served penny sandwiches as a little girl and "had them for afternoon tea ever since".
These were "usually" filled with strawberry jam which would be made with berries from the gardens at Balmoral. We don't know what kind Prince Louis has in his sandwiches (and gets all over the Waleses' car) but perhaps he tucks into Balmoral strawberry jam too. His mum Kate also makes her own plum jam.
Earlier this year the Princess visited Wales and heard how young volunteers at a community garden were growing plums and making jam. She apparently told them, "I'll send you my recipe so you can try it."
Jarred goods seem to be a speciality of Kate's, as she famously made her granny's chutney as her first Christmas present to Queen Elizabeth. Homemade recipes could also be a bit healthier as a snack for Louis, though his love for jam sandwiches clearly keeps her and William busy cleaning their car.
When you have three young children like the Waleses do, a messy car is to be expected and Louis had a new habit last autumn that brought a little bit of chaos indoors too. The young royal developed an interest in collecting conkers and the Princess confessed, "We keep finding conkers in cupboards, in his bed - conkers everywhere!"
She added that her son had also been putting the conkers in his toy trucks and playing with them. Thankfully the conker season in the UK is relatively short, but it seems that Prince Louis's excitement meant tidiness took a backseat for a little while just as it does when he’s enjoying his jam sandwiches on the way to school.
