Pregnant Meghan gives hugs and praise to Grenfell kitchen women

The pregnant Duchess of Sussex today made an emotional return visit to a community kitchen which inspired her collaborative work on a Grenfell Tower charity cookbook, telling the women: 'I'm so proud of you.'

Meghan went to the Hubb Community Kitchen, not far from the site of the deadly tower block blaze in West London, to see first hand the progress made since the Together cookbook went on sale in September.

The mother-to-be was greeted warmly by kitchen co-ordinator Zaheera Sufyaan - whom she gave a big hug - and Abdurahman Sayed, chief executive of the Al Manaar Muslim Cultural Centre in North Kensington.

Meghan, who has been making private visits to the kitchen since January, quickly abandoned any formality when she got inside. She threw her arms around each of the women and kissed them, chattering excitedly about what they had been up to since she last saw them. 'Hi, how are you? Wow, it's so quiet in here,' she said, giggling.

Wearing a burgundy dress and coat by Club Monaco, a Canadian company now owned by US fashion giant Polo Ralph Lauren, Meghan soon put on an apron, rolled up her sleeves and got stuck into helping prepare food.

She said to a group of women: 'It starts from one idea and from this one idea starts so much. I'm so proud of you.' 

The book - full title Together: Our Community Cookbook - took the number one spot on Amazon within hours of being unveiled two months ago and has since sold nearly 40,000 copies in the UK, raising £210,000.  





MailOnline