The Press and Journal (Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire)
Meghan gets in on the act
Duchess helps to stir interest in new Grenfell charity cookbook
The Duchess of Sussex brought her mother to the launch of the Grenfell community cookbook she has championed – and helped prepare lunch for the guests.
Doria Ragland’s last memorable appearance was on the steps of St George’s Chapel following the royal wedding in May, watching her daughter begin her new life as a member of the monarchy.
In London to visit Meghan and her son-in-law, Ms Ragland – who, according to reports, is moving to the capital to be near the duchess – was invited to join the celebrations of the cookbook, Together, along with Prince Harry.
Meghan has been the driving force behind the book, suggesting the idea to a group of women who came together to cook at a Muslim cultural centre in North Kensington in the aftermath of the Grenfell blaze.
She marked the occasion by giving her first public speech as a duchess, telling guests before they sat down to a lunch featuring dishes from the book: “Working on this project for the past nine months has been a tremendous labour of love.”
The duchess added: “I had just recently moved to London and I felt so immediately embraced by the women in the kitchen – your warmth, your kindness, and also to be able to be in this city and to see in this one small room how multicultural it was.”
Speaking from a marquee in Perk’s Field close to Kensington Palace, she said of the family chefs: “On a personal level I feel so proud to live in a city that can have so much diversity – 12 countries represented in this one group of women.”
Ms Ragland said she was “head over heels” with pride.
Meghan quickly got stuck in, preparing food, dishing out green rice and later flipping chapatis and then watching kofta kebabs, turning them so they browned evenly.
Meghan has been privately visiting the Hubb Community Kitchen, at the Al Manaar Muslim Cultural Heritage Centre in North Kensington, where the women who created the book regularly meet to cook.