PLATELL'S PEOPLE: The more Meghan and her risible mouthpiece Scobie smear Kate, the more we love her!

Almost three years ago Meghan told Oprah Winfrey, without naming names, that senior members of the Royal Family had raised 'concerns' about the skin colour of her and Harry's son, Archie, before he was born.

The Sussexes implied, and their supporters cried, this proved the House of Windsor was racist: that poor mixed-race Meghan had been marginalised. The shocking allegations threatened to shake many people's faith in the monarchy itself.

Now, thanks to her risible mouthpiece, Omid Scobie — who collaborated with her on his first book Finding Freedom — we know Meghan also wrote the King a 'private' letter, setting out her concerns about the supposed racism in the Royal Family.

The Dutch translation of Scobie's book Endgame appears to name both the King himself and Kate as the so-called 'royal racists'. Scobie insists he never named them, yet Dutch translator Saskia Peeters insists the names were in the original manuscript she worked on: Fact.

Now we are left with a conundrum. How did Scobie get the names of the 'royals racists' when they were in Meghan's 'private' letter to Charles?

Sources close to the Duchess have insisted neither she nor her entourage handed Scobie the letter. We can only speculate, therefore, how on earth he managed to get hold of it. 

Whatever the truth, Meghan's popularity is plummeting in America, despite her increasingly desperate efforts to reinvent herself. Last month, a Newsweek poll revealed she has dropped to a rating of +10, while Kate towers above her on +34.

Is it just a coincidence that a version of Scobie's book outrageously attacks Kate as a 'part-time Stepford royal wife . . . Katie Keen' and worst of all, a racist — the most horrible slur you can sling at anyone?

Is it a mere accident the book attacks the King as well, when everyone knows how sensitive the monarchy is to such cruel accusations?

Is there no end to the Sussexes' quest for vengeance, to their endless trashing of the Royal Family?

Meghan might have dreamed of being a new Diana. But she's nothing better than a cardboard cut-out of the late Princess.

All I know is that the more Meghan and her mouthpiece Scobie smear Kate, the more we love and want to protect the woman who will one day be our Queen.

Pay for a memory

How appalling that more than half of us will deny our loved ones a proper funeral, seeing a big send-off as a waste of money.

The funerals of my brother Michael, and my parents, were joyous events celebrating lives well lived.

The sound of the lone piper playing Amazing Grace as the coffins left the church was a constant and reassuring refrain to their memory — and worth every penny.

 Has I'm A Celebrity lost the plot, first paying Nigel Farage a record £1.5 million, then allegedly letting Leftie producers cut his airtime because they don't like his politics? Even Ant and Dec's jokes can't stop the show losing two million fans. I'm a viewer, get me out of here!

 A list of worst Christmas gifts includes a can of WD-40: unfair, as the stuff can come in handy. My most disappointing presents were from my former fiancé: extra-thick, long thermal socks and a nose-shaped pencil sharpener clearly fashioned from Barry Manilow's ginormous schnoz. No wonder the engagement didn't last.

 Heidi's girl needs to carve out a model career of her own

We're all for kids following in their parents' career footsteps — but isn't there something a bit creepy about Heidi Klum and her daughter Leni, 19, doing an itsy-bitsy, teeny-weeny lingerie shoot together? It also seems a bit unfair to expect petite Leni to make a career out of modelling when her statuesque 50-year-old mum is still sensationally successful. Perhaps it's best for Leni to stick to her chosen career path: studying interior — not exterior — design

 Already mired in what seem to me wholly justified charges of anti-Israeli bias, now the BBC chooses Guz Khan to host flagship satirical comedy show Have I Got News For You. The comedian has accused the Jewish state of 'war crimes' and 'ethnic cleansing of Palestinians'. The biggest joke of all is BBC 'impartiality'.

Julia Roberts turned up at the premiere of her latest movie with spindly, bare, goose-bumped legs. Now we know why one of the most gorgeous women on earth chose a stunt double for shots of her pins in Pretty Woman.

 Westminster Wars

• The death of former Chancellor Alistair Darling aged 70, a titan during the last Labour government, reminds us of the time when the country was run by politicians of principle, intelligence and integrity — unlike the pygmies who now seek to govern us. To think of robotic Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves stepping into Alistair Darling's shoes is enough to make you weep.

• Shadow Foreign Secretary David Lammy says that the European Union will be Labour's 'number one' foreign policy priority if they win power. Meanwhile, EU leaders and officials describe dealing with Keir Starmer as 'like honey on toast'. As many feared: vote Labour, and trash the democratic will of 17 million people who voted for Brexit.

 Some good news at last: the profligate BBC's flagship political show Newsnight is to lose half of its whopping 60 staff and be cut from 40 to 30 minutes. As an avid politics junkie who, like millions of others, turned off Snoozenight long ago, I reckon that's still 29 minutes too long.

 My bells will ring out for Shane

Fairytale Of New York by Shane MacGowan is reportedly the most played Christmas song — yet bewilderingly has never made it to No 1.

Now, after The Pogues singer's death, the song he made legendary with Kirsty MacColl is tipped to top the charts this year.

You can be sure the bells will be ringing out for Shane in my home — and millions of others — on Christmas Day.

After 20 years of Top Gear and The Grand Tour, Jeremy Clarkson, 63, James May, 60, and Richard Hammond, 52, are handing back the keys to their hit shows. Aren't they a bit young to slam the door? My motoring journalist dad was 70 when he quit the job he loved, saying it was like having his legs cut off.

 Hamas claim their youngest hostage, ten-month-old Kfir Bibas, was killed in an Israeli strike with his brother and mother. What a terrible world we live in when savages can kidnap an infant then blame others for his death.

 Insult to victims of killer nurse

Lucy Letby, the nurse serving life for murdering seven babies and trying to kill six more, has been moved for her own protection from a tough high-security prison to a 'cushy' privately run jail where she has an en-suite bathroom, desk, phone and TV. Hardly a proper punishment for a heinous serial killer — and another dagger in the heart of the families of the babies she murdered.

My moggie Ted scorns a new survey claiming that having a dog can save us from dementia. Apparently walking a pooch enhances social connections.

Ted says yeah, but you have to carry poo bags to clean up their mess, they're smelly and needy while a cat is a constantly quiet companion who looks after itself, loves unconditionally and — most importantly — purrs gently and doesn't spend all day barking.