Editor’s note: This article has been updated with new information from Little Dragon Pizza Van owner Peter Morris.
Peter Morris can now honestly say he makes pizza fit for a king and queen—or, at least, future ones.
On Thursday, April 27, Morris, the owner of Little Dragon Pizza Van in Wales, U.K., got the royal treatment from two of the most famous people in the world: William and Kate Middleton, the Prince and Princess of Wales. They showed up at his mobile pizzeria operation, parked outside the Dowlais Rugby Club, and walked away with a dozen boxes of Morris’ woodfired pizzas.
“They were very nice, very down-to-earth people,” Morris told PMQ. “It was an absolute pleasure to meet them.”
Wales Online says Little Dragon is “known for having one of the most delicious pizzas around.”
Related: How Meghan Markle found the “Holy Grail of pizza” in NYC
The Middletons were in Wales to meet with the Central Beacons Mountain Rescue Team, a group that protects walkers and climbers on the nearby mountains.
The royal couple had already heard good things about Little Dragon. “A member of the royal household who works for the Prince and Princess of Wales came to us for pizza some time ago,” Morris said. “We were unaware of this.” That person also volunteers for the Central Beacons Mountain Rescue Team, whose 60th anniversary celebration drew the prince and princess, Morris said.
As the royal couple prepared to make the trip, Morris added, “We received a phone call from Kensington Palace. They invited us to Dowlais Rugby Club, where the meeting between the royals and [the mountain rescue team] would take place.”
Dropping by the Little Dragon Pizza Van, the prince and princess didn’t just order for themselves. They requested 12 pies to go. “They ordered three Margheritas, three Pepperonis, three BBQ Chickens and three Goat Cheeses,” Morris said.
Kate Middleton, the Princess of Wales, during a visit to the Natural History Museum in London. (Natural History Museum)
Morris and colleague Shannon Stokes personally served the royal couple. “The Princess asked if we make our own dough and said that they love making pizzas with their children,” Morris later told People magazine.
Morris opened Little Dragon Pizza Van in 2016. Although he’s loved cooking since he was young, he was a bit of a pizza novice, he told Wales Online. He started off trying to duplicate the pies made by a Brynmawr pizzaiolo, then began researching the business and took a job with another pizza van for a while to learn more.
Little Dragon Pizza Van / Facebook
The mobile pizzeria now attracts customers from as far away as Bristol and Cardiff, England. “We picked the spot up here because it just has the most amazing views—some of the best views in Wales, in fact—and customers love to come up and enjoy their pizza with that around them,” Morris told Wales Online. “Pizza with a view—that’s the saying we hear a lot while we work.”
In an April 28 Facebook post, Morris wrote, “We are truly grateful for all the well wishes from yesterday’s event. It was an honour to cook pizza for The Prince and Princess of Wales, an experience that we will never forget.”
The Middletons aren’t the only royals who love pizza. As PMQ previously reported, Meghan Markle, the Duchess of Sussex and wife of Prince Harry, has written in the past that she found “my holy grail of pizza” at a restaurant in Manhattan.
