Doria The Explorer! Meghan's Mum To The Rescue

The duchess has a secret weapon by her side!

She’s been a member of the royal family for just a matter of months, but in her first solo project, the Duchess of Sussex has pulled off an epic triumph.

Launching a charity cookbook in the gardens of Kensington Palace last week, Meghan was warm and engaging as she spoke from the heart – and without notes! – about the “tremendous labour of love” it has been raising funds for victims of the tragic Grenfell Tower fire.

Clearly in her element and looking like she’d been doing this kind of thing for years, the former Suits actress won praise and admiration as she waxed lyrical about how she felt “immediately embraced” by the “warmth and kindness” of the multicultural community of London.

“I feel so proud to live in this city that can have so much diversity,” the biracial beauty declared. “It’s pretty outstanding.”

Throughout the event, her husband Prince Harry looked on adoringly, at one point affectionately resting his head on her shoulder. But it was the surprise appearance of her mother Doria Ragland that really meant the most to Meghan.

“Hi, I’m Meg’s mom,” the yoga instructor, 62, said as she arrived alongside her daughter, 37, and son-in-law, 34. When told she must feel “very proud” of Meghan, she replied, “Head over heels.”

“She was lovely to talk to and bursting with pride,” a royal family friend reports. “She has a softness, but I detected a steely core to her. She has come through a hell of a lot.”

And according to palace insiders, it’s Doria – the only member of Meghan’s family to attend her Windsor wedding – who has been a source of inspiration for her daughter, a secret weapon to surviving the extraordinary baptism of fire that has been her start to royal life.