DIANA WAS HER ROLE MODEL

Many girls dream of being a princess, and for the young Meghan, the one that really captured her imagination was Princess Diana. As a longstanding admirer of the Royal Family, Sonia Ardakani – whose daughter Suzy was one of Meghan’s best friends – had videoed her 1981 wedding to Prince Charles, and she would re- run the film for Meghan and her daughters.

She also lent her a biography of Diana, and says Meghan came to regard Prince Harry’s mother as a ‘role model’. Of course, she was captivated by the princess’s glamour, but what really impressed her was Diana’s humanitarian work, her independence, and her ability to connect with ordinary people.

It resonated with a young girl whose sense of social justice had been fostered by the early excursions her mother took her on to the lessdeveloped world. A girl who, when she was 11 years old, had been so enraged by a ‘sexist’ TV advert for washing-up liquid – which implied only women would use it – that she had written a protest letter to

Hillary Clinton (the ad was eventually discontinued).

Meghan’s fascination with Diana perhaps explains why she made a point of posing outside Buckingham Palace for this photograph (right), taken on a trip to London when she was 15, and first published in the Daily Mail.

So, what would the future hold for this fiercely driven, compassionate girl? Academically, she was extremely bright and excelled at English (writing her essays in such exquisite handwriting that she later supplemented her acting income by working as a freelance calligrapher). However, she had set her sights on an acting career, and turned down offers from other leading universities to study theatre and international relations at Northwestern University, whose performing arts faculty is prestigious. It meant moving across the country, to Illinois, and I am told her father missed her so badly that her absence lowered his mood. If Meghan expected her new student friends to be broadminded enough to avoid racial stereotyping, she was quickly disappointed. During her first week, when acquainting herself with the young woman who shared her dormitory, she mentioned that her mother was black and her father was white. ‘And they’re divorced? Oh, well, that makes sense,’ came the stinging reply.

Meghan had by then grown into an eye-catching beauty, and had no shortage of propositions. But if she had a boyfriend at university, then he is being remarkably coy.

Instead, she formed a close and lasting bond with a gay student named Larnelle Quentin Foster, a flamboyant, warm- hearted African-American who also aspired to a thespian career. He has told me how they would cook elaborate meals together (Indian food was then her preference) and attend avantgarde performances.

As Mr Foster’s parents were church pastors in Evanston, the town where the university campus was situated, Meghan spent a good deal of time at their house and attended their services. Laughing, Mr Foster told me that his parents were then unaware of his sexual orientation, and his mother was so fond of Meghan that she hoped their friendship would blossom into a romance.

‘If my mother had had her way, of course I’d be with Meghan,’ said Mr Foster, now a drama professor. ‘She would say, “Oh, I love

Meghan so much!” I was like, “Yeah, Mum, I do too,” but it was never going to happen.’

He feels ‘pretty sure’ Meghan knew he was gay, he said, but it was never openly discussed. As for her prospective suitors, they were green with envy. ‘They’d say, “How do you go out with her?” And I would say, “Because I’m not trying anything!”’