We'll be your baby's grandparents too, Grenfell cooks tell Meghan

Meghan made a return visit to the Hubb site, not far from the burned-out block. Recipes by its chefs formed the basis of her charity cookbook, whose 40,000 sales have so far raised £210,000 for survivors.

It was the first time many of the women had seen her since her pregnancy was announced, and they were quick to congratulate her on the news.

“I told her this is our grandchild. We are so happy,” said Ahlam Saeid, a 61-year-old grandmother originally from Iraq, whose family recipe of rainbow roasted vegetables Meghan helped prepare.

The Duchess had made several secret visits to the kitchen while the book was being prepared. Yesterday, she spent 45 minutes there, taking off her Club Monaco burgundy coat and rolling up the sleeves of her matching dress, before putting on an apron and gloves and mixing vegetables with her hands. Before she left, she was given a traditional Ugandan cloth to wrap around her stomach in the months after she gives birth.

“Much of what we are doing is based on tradition. I thought what could be better to get her than the wrap,” said Munira Mahmud, a mother-of-two, who has been motivated by the kitchen to start a new scheme, providing new mothers with healthy and nutritious meals.

Meanwhile, across town, the Duchess of Cambridge sported an almost identical shade of burgundy as she arrived at University College London to learn about its research on how the environment and biology affects the way youngsters develop socially and emotionally.

Earlier this year, Kate set up a steering group of doctors and academics to investigate children’s mental health in their earliest years.