SARAH VINE: Kate’s stoic dignity shames the tawdry opportunists and bottom-feeders like Narinder Kaur who money in on her non-public ache

One enduring curse of the internet is the unutterable rubbish people say and do on social media in pursuit of clicks, and the sheer number of nasty individuals who seem to make a living out of this.

Narinder Kaur is a case in point. You may remember her as the first British Indian contestant on Big Brother back in 2001.

Since then, she has hovered in Z-list Land, turning up to the opening of various envelopes and forging a career for herself as an ‘outspoken’ pundit for assorted panel shows.

Think of her as a kind of Asian Katie Hopkins, only without the winning charm.

She once described the late Queen Elizabeth as ‘the Queen of Crime’, claimed the St George’s Cross is associated with ‘bigotry, fascism and racism’ and called the Princess of Wales ‘stiff, dull and unrelatable’.

The Duchess of Sussex, by contrast, is a saint. ‘Meghan really is the alternative Princess the world needed. She’s real, warm, and amazing with kids,’ Kaur declared earlier this year on X.

She is, of course, entitled to her opinion. But on Sunday Kaur took her royal trolling to a whole new level when she attacked the Princess of Wales over her appearance at the Remembrance Sunday commemorations.

Sharing a photo of Kate looking rather sad and solemn at the Cenotaph, Ms Kaur wrote on X: ‘Genuine question – why has Kate aged so much? Isn’t she only 42? Is she a smoker? It’s the only explanation.’

Ye gods! Didn’t her mother ever teach her: if you can’t think of anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all?

Needless to say, there’s been quite a backlash. But even that seems to have presented an opportunity for Ms Kaur.

She’s now issued an emotional video apology, referencing her own brother’s cancer and claiming she’s the real victim, having allegedly received a number of racially and sexually motivated threats.

If that’s true, then of course that’s wholly unacceptable. Still: live by the troll, die by the troll.

Even in her ‘apology’ – which in reality was no more than a self-justifying rant – she couldn’t resist a further dig at the Princess, accusing her of having had a privileged time during her treatment for cancer.

Kaur said: ‘She’s had near enough a year off work. Of course it must take its toll, I know plenty of people who have been in hospital and out for pre-cancerous treatment, and they’re back at work.’

Her supporters claim she has the ‘kindest heart’ and that she is a ‘fearless’ advocate for women.

But it’s hard to see how appearing to imply that the Princess of Wales might have given herself cancer through smoking while also commenting negatively on her appearance and suggesting she’s having an easy time of it could be interpreted as anything other than kicking another woman when she’s down.

So much for the sisterhood, eh? As ever, those who count themselves as members of the ‘be kind’ brigade are often precisely the opposite.

Bottom line: Kaur makes a decent living out of dissing the royals, so she thought she’d say something bitchy about the Princess of Wales for clicks and assumed she would get away with it. She didn’t – and now she’s weeping and wailing and playing the racism-sexism card because she’s worried her panel-show gigs will dry up.

She needn’t worry. Rantings equal ratings, and that always gets TV producers salivating. Besides, in this woke world it’s impossible to get cancelled for criticising a white person.

Just look at the Bridgerton actress Adjoa Andoh, who described the Buckingham Palace balcony as ‘terribly white’ at the King’s Coronation last year – prompting thousands of complaints – but who has just been unveiled as the well-paid face of Boots’s new Christmas TV ad.

Such is the topsy-turvy world we live in.

Kate has only ever done what was asked of her. She has endured a cancer diagnosis with quiet dignity and, at every turn, has fulfilled her duty to the British people. Yet now she has to endure the pathetic attacks of tawdry opportunists and bottom-feeders like Kaur, who continue to cash in on her private pain.

Coleen will Roo that outfit

I feel for poor Coleen Rooney going into the Jungle. As an accomplished Wag with a well-publicised love of designer clothing, being photographed in that ghastly outfit must have been almost as irksome as any bushtucker trial. 

Chaos as Hampshire shoppers queue to buy discounted Le Creuset kitchenware. It’s encouraging that it shows the middle-classes are not defeated in Starmer’s socialist utopia. But, it’s also puzzling. It’s so heavy you need Schwarzenegger guns just to wash up.

Days into her leadership Kemi Badenoch polls two points ahead of Keir Starmer, at 29 per cent. But Reform UK are at 19 per cent, so in an election would dilute the Tory vote and give Labour victory. The next voting battleground will be Tories v Reform. 

A climate cop out

Cop29, which the Prime Minister is currently attending in Azerbaijan, heard yesterday from the country’s leader, Ilham Aliyev, that oil and gas are the ‘gift of God’ and that countries rich in those resources ‘should not be blamed’ for ‘bringing them to market’.

Meanwhile, the summit’s chief executive, Elnur Soltanov, was filmed appearing to promote fossil fuels.

It’s almost as if they’re laughing at our naivety.

The thermostat is now a bone of contention in British homes, according to a poll. I’ll say: my daughter wants things tropical, I like it as cold as the grave.

She has 13 togs of duvet in summer, I have 4.5 in winter. But it’s not just a metabolic thing. My grandmother taught me it was ‘common’ to overheat one’s home and the late Queen was economical in that respect, often making do with a two-bar electric heater in Buckingham Palace’s Audience Room. 

If it was good enough for Liz . . . 

Odd that Justin Welby announced his resignation as Archbishop of Canterbury with a photograph of his leaving letter lying on a table, clearly snapped on a smartphone and so zoomed out you’d need a telescope to read it. It seems as though he was in something of a hurry.   

I wonder: is it a coincidence that the Government’s enthusiasm for the Assisted Dying Bill comes as many care homes say they may have to close their doors thanks to Rachel Reeves’s employer National Insurance hike?

Bridget’s midlife magic 

I must confess the new Bridget Jones movie looks most appealing. Bridget, alone again and with two children in tow, embarks on an adventure with a hunky younger man.

Now there’s a plotline to gladden the heart of any midlife singleton.