The event on Wednesday was the first time the young royals, ludicrously dubbed the Fab Four, had taken to the stage together.

William and Kate and Harry and Meghan were there to promote their charity work — to make it, in William’s words, ‘relevant to our generation’ and our ‘ever-changing times’.

It was all a bit self-conscious as they joked for the cameras, and what could be more noble in ambition than this generation of royals hoping to better the lives of the underprivileged?

'Using this platform to indulge in #MeToo feminist propaganda was not only unedifying, but also worrying,' writes Amanda Platell

Kate, looking heavily and happily pregnant, judged the mood perfectly, wearing a modest, sapphire-blue £99 maternity dress.

Meghan turned up in a sleeveless £1,415 silk wrap dress and was teetering on vertiginous stilettos that wouldn’t be out of place in a nightclub.

But we can overlook that, given that she is new to her role.

What was impossible to ignore, however, is what she said.

Turning her back on Kate and William to get the most advantageous camera angle, she recited, in her best actressy dictum, lines that come straight out of the #MeToo sisterhood handbook.

‘There is no better time than to really continue to shine a light on women feeling empowered,’ she began, tossing her glossy tresses.

‘You’ll often hear people say: “Well you are helping women find their voices” — and I fundamentally disagree with that because women don’t need to find a voice. They have a voice.’

Harry's ex Cressida is acting with dignity Actress Cressida Bonas plays a dog in a fringe-theatre production of The Dog Beneath The Skin, and apologised in an interview about the role for refusing to talk about her two-year relationship with Prince Harry. ‘I hope you understand,’ she told the interviewer politely. ‘I’d just rather not go into it.’ All credit to Cressida. She could have milked her royal connections and made a fortune, especially before the wedding — instead she’s doggedly learning her trade, treading the boards of provincial theatre. Advertisement

'Actress Cressida Bonas plays a dog in a fringe-theatre production of The Dog Beneath The Skin, and apologised in an interview about the role for refusing to talk about her two-year relationship with Prince Harry'

Indeed, they do, Meghan. And I’m afraid we heard too much of yours on Wednesday. Yes, she’s still learning the ropes.

But using this platform to indulge in #MeToo feminist propaganda was not only unedifying, but also worrying.

The constitutional Monarchy will only survive if it keeps out of politics, and stands above fashion.

Movements like MeToo are, by their very nature, both political and controversial.

If the monarchy is to last, it cannot be used as a soapbox by a former soap star.

Meghan should understand that she need look no further than Harry’s grandmother for a remarkable role model in female power.

Throughout 66 years of her reign, the Queen has kept her counsel. And yet she’s always been seen as the equal of the countless — mostly male — national leaders she has met.

In so many ways, Meghan is a welcome breath of fresh air.

But the last thing Britain needs is an over-confident, virtue-signalling American actress using her position in the Royal Family to promote her right-on views.

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Meanwhile, oh-so inclusive Meghan and Harry have invited 2,640 ordinary members of the public to take part in their wedding day, allowing them into the grounds of Windsor Castle to, er, wave as they watch the happy couple and their guests arrive and leave the Chapel. In showbiz circles, such people are called extras.

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Dolly Parton, 72, Jane Fonda, 80, and Lily Tomlin, 78, are remaking the classic Eighties girl-power movie 9 To 5. In the film, the trio will set up their own business advising young women about how to get ahead in a man’s world.

Given their age, I’d suggest the film’s working title should be Noon To Five, with a post-prandial snooze written into the contracts.

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After a Facebook appeal by the Rev Martin Jackson for volunteers to clear the snow outside his church for a wedding, 40 strangers turned up.

They made short work of the steep road outside St Cuthbert’s Church in County Durham, and Rebecca McKenzie joyfully, if a little chilly, married her groom Daniel Hodgson.

The happy couple left the church to a guard of honour with dozens of strangers holding shovels above their heads. If that’s not the winter spirit of the Good Samaritan, I don’t know what is.

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Having hardly spoken to her for almost a decade, Elton John made much of his reconciliation with his mother Sheila months before she died.

Now Mum has had the last word.

In her will, rewritten three weeks before her death, Sheila divided her £534,000 estate between her ‘loyal’ friends and left her son just two urns and some old family photos.

I guess her message was: don’t go breaking Mum’s heart.

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Calling herself a ‘terrible mother’, Victoria Beckham posted pictures of her disgruntled-looking children before she packed them off to school in the snow.

It wasn’t school they were upset at, Posh, but the awful snack you sent them with.

Chopped celery, peas and red peppers won’t keep kids going in Arctic conditions!

'Calling herself a ‘terrible mother’, Victoria Beckham posted pictures of her disgruntled-looking children before she packed them off to school in the snow'

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Children's welfare charity Kidscape is in a lather over Primark selling £5 bikinis for 18-month-olds.

Others accuse the High Street chain of ‘stripping the innocence’ from kids.

An 18-month-old baby can hardly speak, let alone choose her own swimwear.

It’s not Primark who are sexualising our children, it’s their daft parents. All they have to do is not buy them.

Westminster wars In his treacherous pro-EU speech, John Major argued that only 37 per cent of the total electorate voted to leave while 63 per cent voted to remain or didn’t vote — so Brexiteers have no democratic mandate and there should be another referendum. What a hypocrite! If the same maths were applied to his general election victory in 1992, he’d never have won — only 33 per cent of the electorate voted for him while 67 per cent either voted against or didn’t vote. Theresa May told an audience how she interrupted a mid-coital couple in a caravan while canvassing — which, I suppose, gives a new meaning to knocking up voters. Advertisement

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Sixty-three-year- old Sally Challen, sentenced to 22 years for bludgeoning her husband to death with a hammer as he ate his breakfast at the kitchen table, has won the right to appeal — and her son says he’s ‘overjoyed’.

David Challen says his father Richard ‘fat-shamed’ his mother, had affairs, alienated friends and threw a dinner she had cooked into the bin, complete with crockery.

The husband sounds absolutely horrid.

But still, I somehow can’t imagine that a man who had killed his wife like that with a hammer would be shown the same compassion.

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Why did U.S. actress Mary Elizabeth Winstead dump lover Ewan McGregor after he had walked out on Eve, his wife of 22 years, and four daughters, for her?

Friends say she didn’t want to be known as a ‘home-wrecker’.

A bit late for that now, as Eve is said to be proceeding with their divorce.

'Why did U.S. actress Mary Elizabeth Winstead dump lover Ewan McGregor (pictured together) after he had walked out on Eve, his wife of 22 years, and four daughters, for her?'

Perhaps the real reason is that, with the sisterhood now in full cry, stealing husbands can be career-threatening.

Angelina Jolie, the James Dyson of husband-hoovering, hasn’t had a hit movie since she ran off with Brad Pitt — unless we count her voiceover role in Kung Fu Panda 3.

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Judges have been told they shouldn’t call those who deliver our mail ‘postmen’ in court.

Evidently it’s considered offensive.

This week, when I tried addressing my own lovely postie — who is recovering from shoulder surgery — by the preferred term of ‘postal operative’, he cheerfully shouted back: ‘Thanks love, the operation went well.’

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Emma Thompson reveals the reason she was so compelling as the jilted wife in Love Actually is that she wasn’t acting. She was reliving her past.

She and Kenneth Branagh divorced when she discovered his affair with Helena Bonham Carter.

Emma has since married actor Greg Wise, with whom she has daughter Gaia and adopted son Tindy, and is blissfully happy.

Meanwhile, Helena has split from her partner Tim Burton, who went off with a younger production assistant.

Emma says: ‘Helena and I made our peace long ago, she’s a wonderful woman.’

Magnanimous? No, it’s revenge, actually.