“We shouldn’t just be able to say awful things,” Christine said in an interview with LBC.

Christine pointed out the privileged position that Clarkson is in, and the power this gives him to hurt and criticise others: “Someone like Jeremy Clarkson can just say what he wants, but it gets printed, that’s the worst thing!”

The column, which has now been deleted, outlined Clarkson’s “hate” for Meghan, as well as the fact that he dreamed of the day when she is “made to parade naked through the streets of every town in Britain while the crowds chant, ‘Shame!’ and throw lumps of excrement at her”.

Christine was clear about the important difference between discussing something you don’t like about someone in private and writing an article about it and putting it in a public forum, fuelling toxic public opinion.

“It upset me so much that Jeremy Clarkson was not only allowed to think that but to put it in print,” she said. “We all sit there and say ‘we don’t like them or we don’t like that’, but you don’t write an article about it – would you?”

She also pointed out how little you might know about someone’s state of mind, and the added importance of not being abusive to them over the internet. “We don’t know whether she is fragile or not,” she said of Meghan, referencing the fact that the Duchess of Sussex has discussed the suicidal thoughts she’s had in the past.

“My daughter was Caroline Flack and what was reported in the paper – so much of it was untrue,” Christine said.

She also pointed out that if Prince Harry and Meghan are treated this way with their status and privilege, she feels worried for others without that power. “I’m too nervous… if they can’t win, how can anyone else win?”

Images: Getty