Meghan Markle’s first charity work with the Grenfell Tower victims has been well publicized, with proceeds of a cookbook raising more than £210,000. The money is expected to help fund the Hubb Community Kitchen, which brings together families of the victims to enjoy meals and foster a strong sense of community in the wake of the horrific tragedy. The kitchen reportedly leases space inside a mosque called the Al Manaar Muslim Cultural Heritage Centre.
While the mosque is allegedly “on the record rejecting and condemning extremism and terrorism,” a director of the anti-extremist Henry Jackson Society believes Meghan was “poorly advised” to establish a link with the mosque, detailed the Daily Mail .
“This is not one or two isolated cases but 19 separate individuals.”
It’s hard to know who was in charge of advising Meghan on this matter, but with the recent flurry of changes with aides quitting, the person responsible may or may not be on board still.
The cookbook and charity would support the mosque solely based on the rent money that’s being paid, although it sounds like the activities on the property aren’t necessarily linked to the Hubb kitchen. No one has established whether the women who participate have ties to the mosque in question.
Duchess Meghan Markle got up bright and early this morning to reunite with the women from the Hubb Community Kitchen! Read more here: https://t.co/5MaRqb5m1T
— JustJared.com (@JustJared) November 21, 2018
The Duchess recently made a grand appearance at the Hubb Kitchen in time for Thanksgiving. She looked radiant in a cranberry red ensemble, as she was photographed cooking up a storm.
Meghan Markle visited the Hubb Community Project two months after she released a cookbook with the group.
Read more: https://t.co/ByMpTNcOKK pic.twitter.com/Bn1ZHRqtDB
— HuffPost UK (@HuffPostUK) November 21, 2018
The charity work made sense for Meghan Markle, who took her known passion for cooking to offer something positive to her community. However, these new allegations may put a damper on her hard work and efforts, so we’ll have to wait and see what happens.
The Daily Mail noted that the mosque has a history of suppressing women’s rights, like telling women not to pray during their menstrual cycles and to not cry when they visit graves. The publication pointed out that this also appears to go against the Duchess’s feminist views, which she has previously expressed during her speeches.
Meghan Markle in surprise visit to Hubb kitchen to see dramatic results from cookbook sale – https://t.co/cN5DrUTTVJ pic.twitter.com/JCj6HISayq
— DailyNewsOnline365 (@DNO365) November 21, 2018
This is what a spokesman for Kensington Palace said about the matter when the Daily Mail contacted the Telegraph .
“The funds raised by the cookbook are supporting the Hubb Community Kitchen, which is an independent project that leases space from Al Manaar. The project is empowering the women and helping provide some hope and joy to a community that has gone through unspeakable tragedy.”