Insiders reveal the food King Charles has BANNED from French state visit banquet – and

Three of the finest foie gras chefs in France will be banned from using the fattened duck delicacy when they cook for King Charles and Queen Camilla at a lavish banquet tonight.

Charles is said to have provided a strict list of culinary demands for the meal at the Palace of Versailles.

Asparagus – which was on the menu in March before the royal trip was postponed because of widespread rioting across France – has also been ruled out, because it is no longer in season.

But there will be plenty of mushrooms, which are a favourite of both Charles and Camille, as they ‘remind them of the late Queen, Elizabeth II’, according to a French government source.

King Charles III and Queen Camilla will enjoy a lavish banquet tonight at the Palace of Versailles in Paris

This picture taken yesterday shows French and British national flags in front of the Hotel des Invalides in central Paris, as part of preparations for the upcoming visit of Britain’s King Charles III and Queen Camilla in France

Chef Anne-Sophie Pic, who has helped finalise the menu, holds ten Michelin stars

Michelin-starred kitchen maestros Yannick Alléno, Anne-Sophie Pic and Pierre Hermé have finalised a menu which was sent to London for approval.

All are well known for using foie gras in their cooking, with pastry chef Mr Hermé even using it in his chocolate macaroons.

But the source said: ‘The King has banned foie gras from his residences in Britain, so there was no possibility of him eating it in France.

‘He doesn’t want asparagus that is out of season either, because shipping it in is environmentally damaging, but there will be a mushroom gratin, which was a favourite of Queen Elizabeth.

‘We understand that Charles was out foraging for mushrooms just before his mother’s death in Scotland’.

Foie gras is considered particularly cruel because it is made by force feeding ducks or geese until their livers become swollen.

French chef Pierre Hermé has previously used foie gras in his chocolate macaroons – but the delicacy will be off the menu tonight

French chef Yannick Alléno also helped to put together the menu fit for royalty

A cyclist passes in front of the British embassy on the eve of the visit of the King and Queen in Paris yesterday

Instead, the Le Menu at Versailles will be:

Starter: Blue lobster and pot crab with a veil of fresh almonds and peppermint

(Created by Anne-Sophie Pic, the only French chef with three Michelin stars)

Main Course: Bresse chicken with corn and a porcini mushroom gratin 

(Cooked by Yannick Alléno)

Cheese: 30-month-old Comté, Stichelton English blue

Desert: Isfahan Persian macaroon

(Pierre Hermé’s signature pudding inspired by the ancient city in Iran, and containing rose water, raspberries, and lychees)

Wines costing more than £400 a bottle will also be on the menu at Versailles.

Pol Roger cuvée Winston Churchill 2013 Champagne is listed at over £500 a magnum. The Bâtard Montrachet grand cru 2018 stands at over £430, and the Château Mouton Rothschild 2004 at more than £400.

Luxuries being prepared for the King which infuriated anti-government protesters in France back in March also included bottles of wine worth hundreds of pounds each.

All of the food will be eaten in the fabled Hall of Mirrors at Versailles, where the late Queen was received during her first state visit to France in 1957.

Some 150 guests have been invited, including British actresses Charlotte Rampling and Kristin Scott Thomas as well as French star Catherine Deneuve.