RICHARD EDEN: The humiliating detail of Meghan's red carpet appearance that shows just how much she and Harry have lost

One of the most awkward and revealing episodes since the Duke and Duchess of Sussex quit royal duties in 2020 to 'find freedom' – and a fortune – came on a red carpet in Los Angeles almost a year ago.

Unaccompanied by Prince Harry, Meghan couldn't have looked less regal as she walked down the carpet at the Power Of Women event and waited to be interviewed by a reporter for Variety magazine, like A.N.Other celebrity.

King Charles's daughter-in-law posed for photographers like the wannabe starlet she once was. And, in the most undignified moment of all, was then rushed along impatiently by another guest.

Last weekend, Meghan was alone again, on another red carpet in her home city, competing for attention with some of those guests at the LA Children's Hospital Gala.

This time, however, she had to suffer further mortification, with fellow guests feeling free to voice their criticism of her.

'There wasn't a great deal of warmth from people when she arrived,' Lizzie Cundy, a British socialite and television presenter, later told me. 'She wasn't there long – she seemed to be there for the photographs.'

Miss Cundy, whom the duchess had once befriended before she met Harry and then 'ghosted', afterwards added of her erstwhile pal: 'Meghan needs LA more than LA needs her. LA people feel they've been played by her. Harry and Meghan were loved because they're part of the Royal Family, but they've bad-mouthed the royals, who are loved in LA. It's a shame, because charity work is where her and Harry do great things.'

When Meghan was still a working royal she would never have been subjected to such a reception or criticism.

Having been appointed patron of the National Theatre by the late Queen Elizabeth, in a move designed to make the former actress feel welcome in Britain, Meghan would be guest of honour at stage events. She would enter a theatre after others had taken their seats and distinguished individuals would line up to meet her afterwards.

And while the duchess was receiving this allegedly chilly reception in LA, her husband was treated as warmly as ever at an awards ceremony for WellChild, one of the few charity patronages he was able to cling onto after leaving Britain. He remained patron of WellChild because it wasn't a royal patronage handed out by the Monarch.

Harry looked delighted to meet the brave children awarded prizes at the event in London. While he so often looks sullen on engagements with his wife, the duke seemed to be back to his old, light-hearted self as he joked with youngsters who have battled serious illnesses at the Royal Lancaster Hotel engagement.

An old friend of Harry's I spoke to this week said Meghan's solo outing in LA emphasises how much they have lost by abandoning royal life.

'Imagine the difference if they were still working royals,' the friend said. 'They would be the centre of attention wherever they went. They would be patrons of organisations and charities, not just guests turning up.

'I think Harry's work over recent weeks with WellChild and Sentebale [the charity he helped set up in 2006 for African orphans, including those living with HIV/AIDS] will have brought home to him how much he has lost by moving to the States.'

One of the most telling moments in the Sussexes' explosive interview with Oprah Winfrey in 2021 was one of the least discussed. Harry told the American chat show queen that they had signed their multi-million-dollar deals with media giants Netflix and Spotify only because they needed to pay for their security after money from Britain was cut off.

This was Harry letting slip that he never wanted to become a media mogul; indeed he couldn't have been less interested. Meghan, by contrast, seems to have been keen on returning to showbusiness.

It helps to explain why Harry appeared in the pilot episode of their podcasts for Spotify but was conspicuous by his absence from the series that followed.

Over the past couple of weeks, the joy on Harry's face has been clear as he returned to engagements for causes rather closer to his heart.

Meghan's awkward solo appearance was, meanwhile, a stark reminder to her of what she threw away when they fled Britain.

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King? George just wants to be prince of pizza chefs!

Prince George will not be expected to serve in the Armed Forces before becoming King, breaking centuries of tradition, The Mail on Sunday reported last year.

You may, however, bump into him at your local pizza parlour, if the young royal has his way.

For a Norfolk landowner tells me that the Prince and Princess of Wales’s son was so excited to visit the restaurant at his 17th century manor home that he declared he saw his future working in the kitchen.

Desmond MacCarthy, who owns Wiveton Hall Cafe, near Blakeney, says that when George was shown the wood-fired pizza oven, the 11-year-old exclaimed: ‘That’s what I want to do when I grow up!’

MacCarthy, who featured in the 2016 BBC Two fly-on-the-wall documentary series Normal For Norfolk, about his struggles to maintain his estate, says of George: ‘He was a sweet boy – they start to become less appealing as they grow up.’

George visited the restaurant with his mother, Catherine, and others. ‘They came here with their friends because Sandringham isn’t that far away,’ MacCarthy says, referring to King Charles’s rural retreat, where Prince William and Catherine have a holiday home, Anmer Hall.

Sadly, George won’t be able to work at Wiveton Hall Cafe because it is to be closed next month after 17 years.

Once compared with restaurants run by world-class chefs such as Heston Blumenthal, the cafe was said by Delia Smith to serve ‘the best food in Britain’.

‘It’s sad when things change, but I believe something else will happen in time,’ MacCarthy says. ‘There has been an increase in costs, with electricity very high, and it has been harder to recruit staff.

‘Despite having a very busy summer, it is difficult to run a business 12 months a year if it is seasonal and only profitable for a few months.’

Five years after I told how Four Weddings And A Funeral star Kristin Scott Thomas was dating journalist John Micklethwait, they have exchanged vows. ‘It was just a small family wedding,’ a friend tells me.

Dame Kristin, 64, who was previously married to French gynaecologist Francois Olivennes, plays MI5 boss Diana Taverner in the TV drama Slow Horses. Micklethwait, 62, edited The Economist before heading the financial news agency Bloomberg.

For any girls approached by a strange car at night, it might turn out to be Good Samaritan Chloe Madeley, 37, daughter of TV presenters Richard Madeley and Judy Finnigan. Asked if she’d become a voice for women since having her daughter two years ago, the personal trainer says: ‘All of a sudden I’m stopping on the high street trying to give teenage girls a lift home because I’m, like, “You ain’t walking home in that outfit – get in the car now”.’ 

Furnish in Hurley bid for Damian’s next film

Damian Hurley made his directorial debut this year with a film, Strictly Confidential, featuring his mother, Elizabeth, in a lesbian sex scene.

His godfather David Furnish has now spoken of his appreciation of the 22-year-old’s film and his hopes that they may soon work together.

‘I’m so proud of him as a film-maker and so proud of him as a human being,’ Furnish tells me at the Attitude Awards at the Roundhouse in Camden, north London.

‘Maybe we’ll kick something off – I can produce and he can direct.’

At the ceremony, Furnish’s husband, Sir Elton John, received the Legacy Award from gay lifestyle magazine Attitude.

Queen Noor of Jordan says being mentioned as a ‘client’ of Absolutely Fabulous PR executive Edina, played by Jennifer Saunders, impressed her children. Dame Joanna Lumley, who played Edina’s pal Patsy, tells the forthcoming Absolutely Fabulous: Inside Out documentary on Gold TV she once met ‘an attractive woman with very beautiful hair who said, “Hello Joanna, I’m Queen Noor of Jordan. The kudos I have with my children since your programme came out... thank you very much”’.

Bill can’t get no satisfaction from LP

Former Rolling Stones bassist Bill Wyman wasn’t happy with his surprise contribution to Hackney Diamonds, the band’s latest album – even though Mick Jagger praised his playing on the track Live By The Sword.

Wyman, 87, says: ‘Mick called me from France and said how much he liked what I’d done, but I said to the producer, Andrew Watt, “Have you got another track?”, because I didn’t really like that track that they put me on.

‘It seemed too busy, too much going on, there was no air in it.’

He complains: ‘It didn’t break down, it didn’t breathe, it just whacked all the way through.’

The rest of the band – Jagger, Keith Richards and Ronnie Wood – haven’t forgiven Bill for quitting 30 years ago after 31 years with the Stones and 19 albums together, he reveals, adding: ‘I have to tell you that they really, really, didn’t like me leaving.’

Catering tycoon Alastair Storey, who scrapped a deal that allowed the Royal Family to shoot on his land next to Balmoral, wants to tear down a crumbling cottage by the River Dee and replace it with a holiday home. Under plans lodged with Aberdeenshire Council, Storey, who bought the 11,500-acre Abergeldie Estate for £23million in 2021, will turn Drymills Cottage into a short-term let.

Jagger and Jerry’s girl Georgia May is a mum

At the grand old age of seven, Sir Mick Jagger’s son Deveraux can now look forward to being known as ‘Uncle Dev’.

For the Rolling Stones singer’s daughter Georgia May Jagger has given birth to her first child.

The model, 32, and her boyfriend, Cambryan Sedlick, 24, a Texas-born professional skateboarder, have named their son Dean Jagger Sedlick.

In this photograph, Georgia is joined by her mother, the American model Jerry Hall, 68.

Thanking Sedlick for ‘being so incredible and taking such good care of us’, Georgia May says of their newborn: ‘We are so in love and happy and can’t stop staring at him.’