Meghan Markle hosts her first lunch at Kensington Palace with mom Doria and husband Harry by her side
Meghan Markle hosted her very first lunch at Kensington Palace on Thursday and it was all for an important cause. The lunch was held in order to mark the publication of 'Together: Our Community Cookbook', a project intended to help the victims of the Grenfell Tower blaze in which more than 70 people died. The Duchess of Sussex wrote the foreword for the book which "celebrates the power of cooking to bring communities together".
Meghan was accompanied by her husband Prince Harry and her mom Doria Ragland who flew in from LA earlier this week. She looked stunning in a black top by Tuxe, a pleated black skirt by her designer pal Misha Nonoo and a bright blue coat by Smyth.
The Duchess of Sussex joined the women from the Hubb (which means 'love' in Arabic) Community Kitchen and helped them create a meal of coconut chicken curry, aubergine masala and chapatis. There were also caramelized plum upside-down cake and spiced mint tea.
Meghan also gave her first royal speech at the event. In her speech, she called the project a “tremendous labor of love.” She continued, “I had just recently moved to London and I felt so immediately embraced by the women of the Kitchen... Your warmth and your kindness,” she said. “Also, to be in this city and see, in this one small room, how multicultural it was..."
She then added, “I felt, on a personal level, so proud to live in a city that can have so much diversity. That there are 12 countries represented in this one small room is pretty outstanding.”
Meghan and Harry then sat down to have the freshly made feast with the women and their guests, including those from the local community, the Al Manaar Muslim Cultural Heritage Centre and representatives from the book’s publishers Ebury Press.
Meghan, who wrote the foreword for the book, said, "The Hubb is a place for women to laugh, grieve, cry and cook together. Melding cultural identities under a shared roof creates a space to feel a sense of normalcy in its simplest form... The universal need to connect, nurture, and commune through food, through crisis or joy is something we can all relate to.”
She added that she was inspired to help the victims after first visiting them in January. The women had been gathering to prepare food for the victims' families and neighbors after the tragedy in June 2017.
During the event, Meghan introduced her mom to all the women she had befriended over the course of this year. All the proceeds from the book will help the kitchen stay open and help to widen its reach to others in the community.