'You'd think it was a state secret': Surprising piece of information you couldn't get out of Queen Elizabeth II

One British TV star is spilling the tea, literally, on the late Queen Elizabeth II.

According to Prue Leith, a former star of The Great British Bake Off, there was one piece of information that was surprisingly difficult to get out of Her late Majesty.

"You'd think it was a state secret," Leith said in a clip shared to Instagram.

Watch the video above.

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The piece of information in question was how the late Queen liked her tea, apparently it was information she kept very close to her chest.

Leith explained that while working as the caterer at a building Queen Elizabeth was opening years ago, she "had to serve our late Queen a cup of tea."

Determined to get Her late Majesty's tea just right, she reached out for assistance.

"I rang up the Palace because I thought if I know how she likes the tea, I'll be able to produce a good one," Leith said.

But the Palace would not budge.

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"The equerry would not tell me. You'd think it was a state secret. He wouldn't tell me how the Queen drank her tea," she explained.

Instead, Leith says the equerry instructed her how to serve the tea.

"He said there should be a silver tea tray and it should have a teapot and hot water and lemon slices," Leith explained.

"And that I should ask her how she'd like it and she would tell me, and then I would make it."

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Seems simple enough. But when it came time for Leith to finally serve Her late Majesty some tea she found herself in an awkward exchange.

"I said, 'Black or white, Ma'am?' and she said, 'Black, please.' So I thought, 'alright, I know how to do this'. 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 onto it. As I poured the water, she said, 'No lemon, thanks'," Leith explained.

"I had no second cup. So I was just thinking, 'what do I do with it? I can hardly flick it onto the floor'. So I put it down on the tray cloth and of course the lemon, which has now been soused in tea, spread this great brown stain all over the tray cloth. And then I topped it up with hot water because I thought, well, people who like black tea usually like it weak. And when I had just come to the brim of the teacup, she said, 'I like it strong.'

"She got weak lemony tea, when what she wanted was strong, black tea. I've felt bad ever since, but there it was."

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