Meghan Markle launches charity cookbook - joined by Prince Harry and mother Doria Ragland
The Duchess of Sussex hosted a reception at Kensington Palace on Thursday to launch the charity cookbook she’s supporting.
Meghan has written the foreword for Together, which features recipes from the Hubb Community Kitchen, a group of women whose area was affected was by the Grenfell Tower fire.
She joined group as they prepared the meal and assisted with the preparations, before sitting down to enjoy the freshly-made food in a British Bake Off style marquee, within the grounds of Kensington Palace.
Meghan arrived at the event, wearing a $1,195 (approximately) £697 petrol blue coat by Canadian brand Smythe, with a black rollneck by Tuxe and a skirt by Misha Nonoo. She was accompanied by her husband Prince Harry and her mother Doria Ragland.
Doria was spotted at Los Angeles International Airport on Monday, sparking speculation that she was flying into London.
She greeted guests at the launch, by saying: ‘Hi, I’m Meg’s mom.’
It’s Doria’s first public engagement since attending her daughter’s wedding on May 19.
Other guests include members of the local community, representatives from Ebury Press, Al Manaar Muslim Cultural Heritage Centre and The Royal Foundation.
🎉 The Duke and Duchess of Sussex and Ms. Doria Ragland are today celebrating the launch of ‘Together: Our Community Cookbook’ with the women of the Hubb Community Kitchen #CookTogether pic.twitter.com/MRGFjNJxM6
— Kensington Palace (@KensingtonRoyal) September 20, 2018
They tucked into home-made dishes including coconut chicken curry, aubergine masala and a range of chapatis and sharing dips, as well as caramelised plum upside-down cake, and spiced mint tea.
Meghan gave a heartfelt speech in which she said she felt ‘privileged’ to know the women of the Hubb Community Kitchen.
She said: ‘Working on this project for the past nine months has been a tremendous labour of love. I have just recently moved to London and I felt so immediately embraced by the women in the kitchen, by your kindness and to be in this city and be in this room and see how multi-cultural it was.
‘On a personal level I feel so proud to live in a city with so much diversity. This whole country is represented by the people in the kitchen. It’s pretty outstanding.
‘There’s so many people to thank – I’m extremely grateful because this is my first project and I appreciate your support. It truly took a village to see this through. Everyone has embraced this so fully because it has been a passion project for us all.’
The Duchess has been making private visits to the kitchen in the Al Manaar Centre in West London since January and learned the reason why it was only open for two days a week, was down to lack of funding.
Meghan was inspired by how the project empowers women at a grassroots level, and championed the cookbook project as a way of ensuring the kitchen can continue transforming lives and communities through cooking.
Proceeds from the recipe book (priced £9.99) released on Thursday 20 September, will support the Hubb Community Kitchen, helping it to stay open and to thrive, so it can widen its reach to others.
The publication has already topped Amazon’s best sellers list, ahead of its release.
Follow us on Instagram and Facebook for non-stop inspiration delivered fresh to your feed, every day. For Twitter updates, follow @YahooStyleUK.
Read more from Yahoo Style UK:
Meghan Markle shows support for close friend’s fashion line at Kensington Palace book launch
Meghan Markle to be reunited with Givenchy wedding dress on ITV’s Queen of the World documentary
What was Kate Middleton’s first solo engagement after marrying Prince William?
