Meghan, Duchess of Sussex attends the One Young World Summit Opening Ceremony at Royal Albert Hall on October 22, 2019 in London, England. The Duchess is Vice-President of The Queen’s Commonwealth Trust, which is partnering with One Young World this year. (Photo by Gareth Fuller – Pool/Getty Images)

She might be under as much pressure as ever, but the Duchess of Sussex is putting on a brave face and pushing forward with her work to help promote women.

This week she visited the Luminary Bakery, which employs women who have been victims of sex trafficking and domestic violence, at the opening of the social enterprise’s new location in Camden, north London. 

The bakery got a plug from Meghan when she guest edited British Vogue this September, and the Duchess followed up to get her hands dirty — or at least messy — as she joined in a baking workshop at the newest Luminary. 

She was gifted an apron and was delighted by a tiered cake that greeted her on her arrival. 

Some of the bakers shared stories of their struggles, including a woman named Tanya who had been stabbed by her ex-partner multiple times. Tanya might have alluded to the scars, both physical and psychological, that remain following her trauma, to which Meghan replied, “We get into this habit of wanting things done immediately nowadays. There’s a culture of instant gratification, of the instant fix.”

“But we aren’t mechanical objects that need to be fixed. You’re a wounded creature that needs to be healed, and that takes time.”

Meghan was joined by The Daily Telegraph’s Bryony Gordon and she told the journalist,  “I find that when you strip all the layers away, as people, and especially as women, we can find deep connection with each other, and a shared understanding.”

“Our lives may be different, our backgrounds, our experiences, all varied, but I find that in these moments of connection it becomes abundantly clear that our hopes, our fears, our insecurities, the things that make us tick…. well, those are very much the same. And there’s comfort in that.”

Meghan’s visit to the bakery also coincided with a strong show of support for the Duchess from members of British parliament. Labour MP Holly Lynch gathered the signatures of 72 women from both sides of politics in a letter expressing solidarity with Meghan. 

“Although we find ourselves being women in public life in a very different way to you, we share an understanding of the abuse and intimidation which is now so often used as a means of disparaging women in public office from getting on with our very important work,” Lynch wrote. 

Meghan called the MP to personally thank her and the other women who signed the letter.