Let Them Eat Quiche: King Charles Releases Official Coronation Recipe

The coronation of King Charles is taking place in just over two weeks, and some of the final preparations are underway. Just after 10 p.m. on Monday night, over 6,000 members of the armed forces — and their horses — gathered outside Westminster Abbey to rehearse the 1.3 mile route they’ll take on the big day. The future King himself has gone through one rehearsal of his own crowning on a scale model of the Westminster Abbey stage that was built inside Buckingham Palace. And earlier this week, Charles released the recipe for his official Coronation Quiche.

“Introducing… Coronation Quiche,” the official Royal Family Twitter account wrote. “Chosen personally by Their Majesties, The King and The Queen Consort have shared a recipe in celebration of the upcoming #CoronationBigLunch taking place up and down the country.”

The Royal Family’s website shared the full recipe for the dish, which involves spinach, broad beans (which Americans also refer to as fava beans), grated cheddar cheese, and tarragon. The recipe says that the dish can be served “hot or cold with a green salad and boiled new potatoes.”

The recipe, which was developed by Royal chef Mark Flanagan, was shared online (find it at royal.uk) so that anyone who wanted to celebrate the Coronation — but didn’t score an invite to the official ceremonies — could make it at home. The King and Queen Consort also hope it will encourage people to share the dish with their families, friends, and neighbors as part of the country-wide Coronation Big Lunch celebrations.

The King’s coronation meal choice didn’t come as a shock to one former Royal chef. “It's no surprise that the King Charles III has shared Coronation quiche to celebrate his Coronation,” Darren McGrady tweeted. “His mother, The Queen loved chocolate, but The King loves anything with eggs and cheese. Made this for him many times... especially with salmon he'd caught in the River Dee.” (McGrady will be commemorating the occasion in Dallas, Texas, at the newest location of his Winston’s British Fish N Chips food truck.)

The recipe also won over another British icon, Great British Baking Show judge Dame Prue Leith. According to Vanity Fair, she got an early taste of the dish at an event held at Westminster Abbey. “There was no soggy bottom, the custard was not overcooked and dry, and the balance of tarragon was perfect,” she said. “A really good quiche.”

Not everyone has been completely bowled over by the recipe. Felicity Cloake, a food writer at The Guardian, made a quiche of her own, and decided that it was more like spinach pie — and that it was “less original [and] less distinctive” than the late Queen Elizabeth’s coronation chicken. “But it’s also likely to be less divisive, which is exactly what the country needs right now,” she wrote. “Whether anyone will remember it in 70 years’ time is another matter.”