The Daily Telegraph

This was Soccer Mom Megs – woman of the people in a £1,336 blouse

- By Camilla Tominey ASSOCIATE EDITOR

‘Harry, nicknamed the Hostage by palace staff, is happy in California, his wife insisted’

‘Jeremy Paxman this wasn’t. By introducin­g Meghan as my friend, Ellen set the tone for what largely turned out be a neighbourl­y chat’

We’d had actress Meghan, princess Meghan, victim Meghan and multimilli­onaire Montecito Meghan, so viewers could have been forgiven for wondering which Meghan they were going to get on Ellen Degeneres’s sofa.

Was this going to be the Meghan of Tom Bradby fame, who tearfully nibbled her lip and told the world nobody had asked if she was OK? Or was it going to be the defiant Duchess who appeared on Oprah, boldly insisting that the racist Royals had denied Archie a title because of the colour of his skin?

As she shared kooky stories about alighting her “very, very old” Ford Explorer Sport through the trunk when the driver’s door stopped opening, it soon became apparent that we were going to be treated to “cuddly Meghan”, the giggly girl-next-door in the £1,336 blouse.

Notwithsta­nding the lack of explanatio­n over why the 40-year-old Royal couldn’t have exited her old banger through the passenger door instead of clambering through the boot, this was Soccer Mom Megs, seemingly keen for a seraphic rebrand in the face of her toxic court case against the Mail on Sunday.

Only last week, we heard how she had premeditat­edly addressed her father as “Daddy” in a letter to “pull on the heartstrin­gs” in case it was leaked.

Yesterday, Meghan tugged on the audience’s emotions by telling touching tales about Archie dressing up as a dinosaur for Hallowe’en and Lili as a skunk “like Flower from Bambi”.

There was sadly no mention of what fancy dress aficionado Harry wore or indeed the whereabout­s of the Windsor One, who was last spotted juggling in the background of another one of Meghan’s A-list speed dates with Melissa Mccarthy. Harry, nicknamed “The Hostage” by palace staff, is “happy” in California, his wife insisted.

Jeremy Paxman this wasn’t. By introducin­g Meghan as “my friend”, Ellen set the tone for what largely turned out to be a neighbourl­y chat between two women who met at a pet shop 10 years ago. Naturally, there was no journalist­ic inquiry into the bullying claims against the Sussexes, or why Degeneres is ending her talk show next year following complaints about her alleged unpleasant­ness to staff.

Instead, we learned how an “innovative” nine-year-old Meghan had made scrunchies at elementary school, despite trying to make her “ethnic” hair resemble Andie

Macdowell’s from Four Weddings and a Funeral. We also heard why, “as a mom of two”, Meghan would do everything she could to implement the paid family leave she enjoyed in the Britain they left behind.

“Can you feel my powers,” she appeared to ask one audience member, amid rapturous applause.

Keen to brandish her woman-of-thepeople credential­s, Meghan even agreed to send herself up in a prank skit in the vein of I’m A Celebrity… when she posed as a cat in a scene reminiscen­t of George Galloway on Celebrity Big Brother. They may have left the Royal family to protect their privacy, yet with this new-found penchant for primetime, perhaps the jungle will be next, after all?

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