IT was 10.30pm last Friday night when I was in my own little world posting a deliriously happy Instagram message having just watched CELINE DION give a career-best performance in Hyde Park.
Rudely interrupting my peaceful space, a posh voice from a cordoned off row of luxury seats in the VIP section below me boomed accusingly: “Oi, what are you doing?”
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Still thinking of THAT performance of My Heart Will Go On, I looked up to be greeted by the not too pleasant sight of the princesses EUGENIE and BEATRICE glaring and pointing at me, with a security guard by their side.
When I worked out they were accusing me – incorrectly I can assure you – of having been trying to take a picture of them, I immediately turned my phone around to show them what I’d actually been doing, just as my Instagram post was published.
I read aloud the words thanking Celine for “leaving your heart on the stage” and “singing as if every performance is your last.”
Looking mildly embarrassed, the pair of entitled Duchesses nodded in agreement and then mumbled an apology.
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But afterwards I couldn’t help but feel aggrieved – how dare they be so presumptuous to think I was interested enough in their visit to a concert that I’d bother to take a picture?
It was particularly ridiculous given the pair had posed for photos on their way in for the festival sponsor and then been widely papped during the show.
I note the pictures were of so little interest to the media that, from my recollection, they made none of the newspapers the next day. Two minor royals attend a concert. Who cares!
Not surprisingly they were outshone by a host of far more interesting celebrities, like an eight-month pregnant MYLEENE KLASS and the glamorous Love Island presenter CAROLINE FLACK and LITTLE MIX star PERRIE EDWARDS on a very special date night with her adorable mother.
I would have forgotten the unpleasant incident and moved on if it weren’t for the Duchess of Sussex making the same balls up just a few days later at Wimbledon, warning off hapless punters who were actually snapping selfies or trying for a snap of the actual tennis players, rather than a shot of Meghan that she clearly believes is so sought after.
This time she didn’t ask the apparent snappers to back off herself, leaving the job to a royal protection officer who, let’s be honest, should be there to keep her safe from terrorists not happy snappers.
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Both cases represent the plague of celebrity currently sweeping the British royal family – and it must horrify the Queen who has steadfastly avoided the confusion of being seen as a star rather than a monarch for her entire reign.
But if royals like Meghan and the York girls are going to attend celebrity events and then act like spoilt reality stars I’m afraid they can’t continue to expect some sort of extra level of protection from the public.
I’ve found the whole development particularly weird given when the Duchess of Sussex was a mere mortal there was nothing more she liked to do than share.
Yup, the then Ms Markle was a social media queen – with nothing considered too mundane to share to her tens of thousands of followers.
New yoga movie. Check. Visit to expensive new hotel. Consider it shared. Latest posh dinner. You betcha.
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In fact, she even set up a lifestyle brand to furnish the corporate clients who made her life so much more liveable.
As I revealed in The Sun last week, in fairness to Meghan the current obsession with weird levels of privacy (not naming baby Archie’s godparents or which hospital he was born in, for example) is coming from her husband.
But Harry needs to realise that if his relatives continue to act like needy celebs then these attempts will quickly prove futile.
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By the way, the next time you see bump into Eugenie and Beatrice make sure you don’t photograph them under any circumstances. Because I’m fairly certain the complete lack of coverage will annoy them more than anything else.
And the pushy princesses better think twice before assuming they’re more interesting to me than Queen Celine.
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