We’re talking more than a million dollars.
Even though she hasn’t been a working royal since 2020, Meghan Markle’s efforts are still paying off for the Royal Foundation. According to the organization’s annual report for 2023, Markle’s 2018 cookbook, Together: Our Community Cookbook, continues to bring cash into the royal coffers. The Duchess of Sussex created the book with a group of women who had been affected by the Grenfell Tower fire in 2017, a disaster that killed 72 people. Working with Hubb Community Kitchen, Markle collected recipes and stories from the area after she took a “quiet trip to Al-Manaar, a mosque close to the Grenfell community.” The book marked her first solo charity venture as a royal and even included some of her personal recipes.
“The kitchen was opened after the Grenfell tragedy, offering women who had been displaced and the community around them a space to cook food for their families,” she wrote in the book’s foreword. “Their roles as matriarchs united them across their cultures; the kitchen provided an opportunity to cook what they knew and to taste the memory of home, albeit homes some had recently lost.”
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Last year, the book earned approximately $111,850, according to Express. Since its 2018 release, however, the cookbook has raised a cumulative £911,000, roughly $1,205,420. The outlet pulled information from the annual Royal Foundation report, which collects financial disclosures from the royal family.
On the third anniversary of the tragedy, Markle shared a touching message to volunteers and employees at Hubb.
“I’m so proud of you, so is Harry. We are sending so much love to you from across the pond and thinking of you today,” she said via voice message at the time, according to the Evening Standard. “I’m sure it’s a difficult day, but also one where you can look at how much you’ve accomplished in the past three years, and how you continue to give back and be an example for all of those around you.”
“I think back to when I met all of you and how you had all come together in the wake of what you experienced in your community,” she finished. “Now what you have done is such an inspiration, you continue to give back, you continue to put love in action. And that’s really what Hubb is all about.”
