Huge laugh then she hails confident Aker, 16

women. It was amazing.” Asked how he thought his peers would react, he said: “They’re going to be asking questions. I had to stand up.

“I looked around, I wasn’t sure there was anybody else (volunteering). I thought, ‘This day means so much, it would be an insult for me not to speak and say how much it means to me’.”

Pupils only learned of Meghan’s visit, on Friday, late in the school day.

On what he was thinking as he approached the stage, Aker said: “Don’t mess up, don’t mess up. My heart was racing because I knew I had to speak in front of all of my cohorts.

“I was really amazed and surprised. It means a lot to have her here.

“It’s not every day that you meet someone from the Royal Family.”

Meghan posed with sixth formers with parallel arms crossed to signal equality. The visit marked her last solo engagement before she and husband Prince Harry, 35, step back from royal duties.

The duchess also met Geraldine Dear, one of the women who fought for equal pay at the nearby Ford factory.

The 1984 campaign inspired 2010 film Made in Dagenham, starring Sal ly Hawkins and Bob Hoskins.

Meghan told Geraldine, 66: “Well done on making such an important change for this country. I’m sure it’s not an easy thing to do but it’s the right thing to do.”