Find out what the atmosphere in the palace was like for one of Princess Diana’s employees after he learned about her death.

Many people who were alive when Princess Diana died more than two decades ago can still remember where they were and what they were doing when they heard about her death.

Princes William and Harry were staying at Balmoral Castle in Scotland with the rest of the royal family when she died and their father gave them the tragic news the morning it happened. The princess’s brother, Charles Spencer, revealed that he was in Cape Town, South Africa with his family when he phoned his siblings and the grim news was confirmed. Some members of Princess Diana’s staff also recalled when and how they found out including her personal chef, Darren McGrady, who shared what it was like going to work at the palace after learning that doctors could not save his boss’s life.

Princess Diana attends the Armistice Day wreath-laying ceremony at the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, France | Jayne Fincher/Princess Diana Archive/Getty Images

Princess Diana’s chef recalls the ‘shock’ of learning she had died

McGrady worked in Buckingham Palace and cooked for Queen Elizabeth for 11 years before he became Princess Diana’s personal chef. Over the years, he has spoken about working for the late royal and shared some of his fondest memories from that time. He also opened up about the day he learned she died.

“I’d got up in the morning, turned on the TV, and saw the news,” McGrady told Hello! Magazine. “They were saying the princess had died. I couldn’t believe it. It was a real shock. I flicked through all the channels … I called the palace and I couldn’t get through — all the lines were engaged.

“And so I went into work and took the food with me that I was going to do for dinner the next day because I couldn’t accept that she was gone. It was a real shock.”

Chef Darren McGrady attends BritWeek’s 10th Anniversary VIP Reception & Gala in Los Angeles | Randy Shropshire/Getty Images for Britweek

McGrady continued: “Her apartments eight and nine were on lockdown so no one was allowed in. I went into the office next door and that’s when the girls were all in tears. The next week I was in the palace but there was no cooking. It was just tidying up things and throwing out food because we weren’t going to be using the palace again. It was just awful.

“Right until the funeral I’d go in every day just to be there. Seeing the flowers out the front getting higher and higher and seeing all the people. It was a horrible memory. I got to go and spend time alone with the princess in the Chapel Royal. Each of the staff members got a chance to do that — that was nice. Come the funeral we all went to the Abbey. Her personal staff actually lined up outside the front door to say goodbye to her for the very last time as she left Kensington Palace.”

Diana was behind McGrady’s decision to move to America

Following the princess’s death, McGrady moved to America and explained that was something his former boss always talked about doing.

Darren McGrady, former personal chef of Princess Diana, posing for a photo during his cookbook promotion in Toronto | Aaron Lynett/Toronto Star via Getty Images

“I never believe in going backwards,” he said. “I just felt, there I was, the head chef to Princess Diana — the most photographed woman in the world. I loved what I was doing, the interactions every day with her when she’d come into the kitchen and the guests she’d have over, whether it was Elton John or George Michael. Just to go back to being one of 20 chefs at Buckingham Palace, I thought, ‘No I don’t want to do that.’”

McGrady did receive an offer to move to then-Prince Charles’ household and cook for him, but he declined and moved to the States instead.

“Princess Diana always used to say — I don’t know if she was joking or not — she’d say, ‘Darren we need to move to move to America.’ I put out my resume and got offered a job in Dallas as a private chef and so I took that and spent the next 18 years as a private chef, and then I started my own catering company.”