Tiers and tears as duchess dresses down for bakery aiding vulnerable
IN A loose shirt and faded jeans, it would have been hard from a distance to tell whether the Duchess of Sussex was icing a cake or Artexing a ceiling.
It was when Megan put on an apron that her purpose became clear.
She was celebrating the opening of a bakery in north London which supports vulnerable women – many of whom have been victims of violence and sex trafficking. The Duchess had featured the organisation in Vogue when she was its guest editor, and it has been highlighted on the Sussexes’ Royal Instagram account.
Inside the Luminary Bakery, whose new premises are in Camden, Meghan cut into a cake and spoke to some of those there.
The visit had been conducted without the usual media circus in tow.
“One of the things I have realised since being here (in the UK) is that people have an expectation when I’m coming somewhere,” the Duchess was reported to have said to one of the women supported by Luminary.
“At the end of the day, we’re all just women.
“We all have a story to tell, and I feel honoured that I am getting to hear yours.”
Meghan comforted another woman, Tanya, who was crying as she recounted having been stabbed by her violent former partner in 2016.
The Duchess said: “We get into this habit of wanting things done immediately nowadays.
“There’s a culture of instant gratification, of the instant fix. But we aren’t mechanical objects that need to be fixed.
“You’re a wounded creature that needs to be healed, and that takes time.
“And that is what I love about this place. It gives you the support to heal.”