Prue Leith Spills The Tea On Her Unlucky Time Catering For Queen Elizabeth

Pouring the perfect cup of tea isn't hard, but pouring the Queen's perfect cup of tea is an entirely different feat — and Prue Leith learned that the hard way. When Leith was tasked with pouring Queen Elizabeth II a cup of tea, it was quite the series of unfortunate events. While catering at a building that the Queen visited, the "Great British Bake Off" (GBBO) judge delivered a not-so Star Baker performance, and she told the story in a reel on Instagram today.

To prepare herself for the event, Leith said that she called Buckingham Palace to ask how the Queen took her tea, but the equerry would not disclose the information. "You'd think it was a state secret," she said. "He wouldn't tell me how the Queen drank her tea."

Giving Leith just a tidbit of guidance, the equerry told her how to serve the tea. He advised her to present it on a silver tray with a teapot, hot water, and slices of lemon. From there, he suggested that Leith ask the Queen directly how she would like her tea.

After two hours of the Queen touring the building, Leith waited at the end of a long line of dignitaries as the Queen shook their hands. As the Queen reached the end, Leith asked if she wanted black or white tea, to which the Queen responded black.

"I thought, alright I know how to do this," she said. "I got the cocktail stick and I stuck it into a lemon slice, and I put it into the cup, and then I poured hot water into it." As she did so, the Queen said "No lemon, thanks." After removing the lemon slice from the cup and placing it on the tray cloth, the tea-doused lemon began forming a brown stain around the tray. 

Recovering her footing after the initial stumble, Leith continued as she thought appropriate. Because black tea drinkers tend to like it weak, she filled the rest of the cup with hot water. As she finished pouring the water, the Queen said "I like it strong." After Leith's two trials and much tribulation, she said the Queen "got weaky lemony tea, when what she wanted was strong, black tea." (Luckily she knew not to mess up the Queen's tea-time sandwiches).