Harry and Meghan break silence after dropping bombshell they are stepping back from royal duties

Harry and Meghan have broken their silence since their bombshell revelation this week they are stepping down as senior royals.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex shared pictures on Instagram of their secret visit to the women of The Hubb Community Kitchen four days ago, shortly before they sent the world in a spin.

The post to their 10.4 million Instagram followers made no mention of the storm.

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Earlier this week, The Duke and Duchess of Sussex returned to visit the women of The Hubb Community Kitchen and “Together, Our Community Cookbook.” These women came together in the wake of the Grenfell tragedy to cook meals for their families and neighbours who had been displaced from the fire. With funds from the successful cookbook, they have now been able to share their spirit of community with so many more. The Hubb continues to work with local organisations to build hope, bring comfort and provide not simply a warm meal, but with it, a sense of togetherness. The Duke and Duchess were so happy to reconnect with the women and hear about the projects they continue to develop to help those in their community and beyond. Image © SussexRoyal

A post shared by The Duke and Duchess of Sussex (@sussexroyal) on Jan 10, 2020 at 8:36am PST

Accompanied by several pictures, the post read: "These women came together in the wake of the Grenfell tragedy to cook meals for their families and neighbours who had been displaced from the fire.

"With funds from the successful cookbook, they have now been able to share their spirit of community with so many more. The Hubb continues to work with local organisations to build hope, bring comfort and provide not simply a warm meal, but with it, a sense of togetherness.

"The Duke and Duchess were so happy to reconnect with the women and hear about the projects they continue to develop to help those in their community and beyond."

The post came two days after their post announcing they had chosen to "transition this year in starting to carve out a progressive new role within this institution".

They added: "We intend to step back as 'senior' members of the Royal Family and work to become financially independent, while continuing to fully support Her Majesty The Queen."

They said they planned to balance their time between the United Kingdom and North America.

But a hasty statement issued by Buckingham Palace stressed the discussions were in their "early stages".

"We understand their desire to take a different approach, but these are complicated issues that will take time to work through," it said.

The day before, The Sun revealed the couple were actively making plans to move overseas.

It appears Harry chose to end the speculation.

The Evening Standard reported that he sent a copy of his prepared statement to Prince Charles and Prince William at 6pm on Wednesday night, 10 minutes before it was published on Instagram.

A website the couple had quietly been working on also went live, laying out in fine detail their plans to leave the nest, including their new media arrangements and funding plans.

The Queen was said to be furious, and Charles and William "incandescent with rage".