Meghan's baby shower flowers given to child cancer patients
The florist who taught Meghan and her celebrity friends how to arrange flowers reveals the bouquets went to charity.
Saturday 23 February 2019 20:50, UK
Flowers designed by the Duchess of Sussex and her best friends at her baby shower were donated to child cancer patients and elderly men.
Meghan, who is seven months pregnant, flew to New York last week for a five-day celebration of the impending arrival of her first child with her celebrity friends, including tennis star Serena Williams and human rights lawyer Amal Clooney.
The 37-year-old's former Suits co-star Abigail Spencer, Meghan's best friend Jessica Mulroney, pilates instructor Taryn Toomey, fashion designer Misha Nonoo and her wedding makeup artist Daniel Martin were all seen arriving for the shower.
Williams, who was the host, hired celebrity events planner Jennifer Zabinski Events to organise the celebration in The Mark hotel's 10,000 sq ft (929sq m) penthouse overlooking Central Park.
As part of the privately-funded event, the friends took part in a flower arranging class, with florist Lewis Miller saying Meghan was "So sweet! So engaged! A class act!".
But guests did not take their designs home, and instead donated them to Repeat Roses, a charity which gives used floral arrangements to people in hospital or assistance homes.
The organisation shared some photos of their staff picking up the bouquets from The Mark and revealed they gave them to child cancer patients at Ronald McDonald House New York, where sick children can be with their families during treatment.
Their flowers also went to cancer patients at Hope Lodge, an American Cancer Society home for patients travelling for treatment, and to "behaviourally and medically fragile men" at Unique People Services, where people denied treatment due to disability, criminal or substance abuse history are accepted.
An Instagram post from Hope Lodge, said: "One of our guests from London, who is in NYC for breast cancer treatment, nearly cried with excitement."
Repeat Roses added: "We were honoured to match the beautiful floral arrangements designed by the Duchess of Sussex and her guests, including host @serenawilliams, to a few of our very favourite NYC neighbour organisations.
"The flowers brought a ray of sunshine on a cold winter day, and will be greatly enjoyed for the week ahead."
The charity will collect the flowers and vases later on for composting and recycling, it added.
Revealing that she had organised the baby shower, Ms Zabinski said on Instagram: "OH BABY! We're so honoured to have had the opportunity to plan a beautiful, intimate baby shower for Meghan Markle."
While Meghan and her friends have been quiet about what they did during the baby shower, florist Mr Miller gave some further insight into the event in his post on Friday.
He said there was a "dessert buffet" and the "chicest baby shower games ever invented", as well as his flower arranging lesson.
Meghan returned home to London on Wednesday before flying to Morocco on Saturday for a three-day official tour with Prince Harry.