A diary kept by King George II’s head chef reveals that the Royal diet included puffins, garden birds and young frogs known as “peepers”.
The 77 page handwritten book records all the meals served to the Royal household at Kensington Palace in 1736 and 1737.
Some of the dishes of the day would give even the most experimental modern chef heartburn as the main ingredient is either illegal or a protected species.
German-born King George and his wife Queen Caroline frequently feasted on larks, snipe, teal, godwits, puffins and blackbirds. The couple were also served ortolans, a tiny migratory bird