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Millie Mackintosh’s missing invitation

AFTER Prince Harry and Meghan Markle announced their engagement last November, many were keen to capitalise on their connections to the couple.

None, though, could compete with the relentless publicity drive on which former Made In Chelsea star Millie Mackintosh appeared to embark.

Described as a ‘close friend’ of 36year-old Meghan, Millie, 28, was suddenly everywhere, with apparently well-briefed pals even claiming she was helping the American actress plan her wedding and was being actively considered as a bridesmaid.

Imagine Millie’s embarrassment, then, as she heard that invitations had begun to arrive for the St George’s Chapel ceremony, but there was no sign of a ‘stiffie’ landing on her doormat.

Not only was her name absent from the 200 friends invited to the Frogmore House evening reception, but it was not even among the 600 welcomed to the wedding.

‘It’s very embarrassing,’ admits a pal. ‘ But she’s putting a brave face on it.’

Most people would have taken this as the cue to stop blabbing about Meghan, but Millie, who is a member of the Quality Street sweet dynasty, ploughed on.

Just last week she gushed that her friend was ‘a really lovely girl’, adding: ‘She’s fun and nice and she has great style.’

So how well does Millie (right) know the new Duchess? I hear she has met her precisely three times in her whole life. Luckily, when they both happened to be guests at Soho Farmhouse in Oxfordshire last year, Meghan shared a snap on social media of the pair on bicycles.

Their two previous encounters were both at commercial events: the opening of Soho House in Istanbul in 2015 and a lunch at the Ivy Chelsea Garden.

So where did Millie watch the Royal Wedding? At home with her black pug, whose neck she adorned with a white jewel crown.