Meghan Sussex’s return to Nottingham brought plenty of big moments, but one of the most emotional moments happened away from the crowds.

During Prince Harry and Meghan’s second stop of the day at Himmah Hub, Meghan reunited with four women from the Hubb Community Kitchen, the group behind Together: Our Community Cookbook, her first solo project as a member of the Royal Family.

And the reunion looked exactly like what you would expect when people who genuinely know one another have not been in the same room for years.

“I want to meet all of you, it smells amazing, but I have to go see my ladies first,” Meghan told staff as she entered the building. Then came the hugs.

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“It’s Been Too Long”

Meghan embraced Dayo Gilmour, Intlak Alsaiegh, Faiza Hayani Bellili and Leila Hedjem individually before the women pulled together for a group hug.

One told Meghan, “It’s been too long.”

“At least five years,” Meghan replied.

Harry joined them a few minutes later and received his own warm welcome, with one of the women telling him, “We’ve missed you so much.” ITV reported that the group kissed, hugged and held hands during the reunion.

You could see the familiarity in the way the women greeted Meghan. Nobody seemed unsure whether they should hug her or maintain some formal royal distance. They simply embraced her. That warmth is probably why videos from the visit landed so strongly across traditional and new media.

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The Hubb Community Kitchen Was Personal for Meghan

The relationship dates back to 2018. Women affected by the Grenfell Tower fire had been gathering at the Al-Manaar Muslim Cultural Heritage Centre in west London to cook meals for their families and community. Meghan began visiting privately and eventually helped turn their recipes into Together: Our Community Cookbook.

The cookbook became her first major solo initiative as a member of the Royal Family. It was not just a glossy royal project either. Sales of the cookbook raised significant money for community work. Himmah received £10,000 from cookbook proceeds in 2021, and during Thursday’s visit Harry and Meghan announced further donations totalling $26,000 from the project’s funds.

Several of the women say the relationship continued after Meghan left Britain. Intlak Alsaiegh told Town & Country that Meghan stayed in touch with the Hubb women through WhatsApp from time to time.

“When she comes, she is like us among us,” she said, adding that Meghan had “opened a lot of doors” for the women and their businesses.

Leila Hedjem was equally direct. “We feel very protective of her. We absolutely love her,” she said before the reunion, describing Meghan as warm, kind and “naturally… a giver.” Those are strong words from women who actually spent time working with her.

Harry and Meghan Got Back in the Kitchen

Himmah Hub tackles food poverty, racism and inequality in Nottingham. The organisation operates from a former Methodist church and supports families through food provision and other community programmes.

Harry and Meghan put on matching striped aprons and joined the food preparation before sitting down for lunch with around 50 people connected to Himmah, the Hubb Community Kitchen and local youth programmes.

Outside, another sizeable crowd had gathered. Reports put the number at around 50 to 60 people at this particular stop, with students and local residents among those waiting along the fence for a glimpse of the couple.

Again, that is worth noting because so much commentary around Harry and Meghan’s return has focused on whether anybody in Britain still wants to see them. People clearly did.

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You Can Feel the Difference When People Actually Know Her

What stood out most from the Himmah visit was not the size of the crowd or even the royal-style choreography. It was the physical ease between Meghan and the Hubb women. They hugged Meghan warmly, held onto her and laughed together. At one point, the reunion turned into one large group embrace.

You cannot watch those images without noticing that these women have their own relationship with Meghan, entirely separate from whatever strangers on television or social media have decided she is like. And perhaps that is why moments like this create such a disconnect with years of hostile coverage.

We are constantly told who Meghan supposedly is by people who often have little or no personal relationship with her. Then she walks into a kitchen containing women she actually worked with, and their reaction tells a very different story.

That does not mean everyone has to like Meghan. But relationships matter. The women from the Hubb Community Kitchen knew her before the Netflix documentaries, the podcasts, As Ever and years of media attacks. They worked beside her on a project that materially benefited their community.

Nearly a decade later, their first instinct when she walked back through the door was to wrap their arms around her. Maybe that tells us something too. And after Meghan’s years away from Britain, hearing one of the women say “it’s been too long” felt like the simplest summary of the entire reunion.

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