LIZ JONES: I’m so sorry Meghan. You made me angry, but now I see you do have a heart… and I’m not too proud to say I cried

I remember the moment I fell in love with Guy the rescue beagle, which meant I also fell for his mum, Meghan Markle.

He was proudly sitting next to the late Queen in her limo. His shoe-sole pair of ears were flapping and his great big nose was smudging the window. His tan-and-white sturdy little body was all alert, hitching a ride with his future granny-in-law to Mummy Meghan’s wedding rehearsal.

Seeing little Guy next to the Queen I also saw a sure sign that the monarch and Meghan would bond over a shared love of dogs who have access all areas, are always put first, are taken everywhere – often carried – wear little coats, who are kissed on the nose, who are mourned when they always die too soon with a searing pain: the emptiness of the warm rump on the sofa, a curled, snoring heap on a pillow.

This is the real change in the stuffy old unrelatable royals, I thought, upon learning of Guy, rescued by Meghan in 2015, way before she met Harry. Meghan champions animals. At last!

I remember the moment I fell in love with Guy the rescue beagle, which meant I also fell for his mum, Meghan Markle, writes LIZ JONES

At 22.19 GMT last night, when an Instagram post dropped on the Duchess’s account announcing Guy’s death, I was sobbing

And so, at 22.19 GMT last night, when an Instagram post dropped on the Duchess’s account, I was sobbing. Oh no, oh God no! Please, no!

Because there was little Guy, in portrait after portrait with tinkle tinkle muzak: sitting in the middle of the Union Jack. Being snogged on the nose. Prancing in snow. Tail a helicopter. Ears doing lift off in the wind. Running on the beach. We knew what was coming, the lump in the throat became ever more painful as we watched. The face fading to white as the years progressed. The bandy-legged trit trot slowing down over the years. And the final message: ‘In loving memory of Guy.’

Meghan writes: ‘In 2015, I adopted a beagle from a dog rescue in Canada. He been at a kill shelter in Kentucky and given a few days to live. I swooped him up… and fell in love.

‘They referred to him as “the little guy” because he was so small and frail… he was the best guy any girl could hope for.

‘If you followed me on Instagram back in the day, you saw a lot of him… he was me at Suits, when I got engaged, and then married, became a mom.’

In Meghan’s post, there was little Guy, in portrait after portrait with tinkle tinkle muzak: one showed him sitting in the middle of the Union Jack

Noooooooo! Oh Meghan, my heart goes out to you. I did love you; I supported you, but you made me angry with the revealing red red carpet dress, the wet look hair, the lack of elegance. Your new lost-grip-of-reality TV show has left me cold, as it brims with artifice and inauthenticity and controlling, never possible perfection.

But I am so, so sorry. Grief is the great leveller. It brings us all closer again. You do have a heart, I can see it in your love for the little chap, who I am sure ran you ragged over the years (there are actual beagle support groups, given their naughtiness), but who I am certain has been a huge support when you have suffered so much abuse, been through so much change.

You have doubtless buried your face in his ears and made them slick with tears. He has put everything else into perspective: his unconditional love, no matter what, no matter the mistakes. And of course he shows you aren’t all surface, all about perfection. He will have made your life messy and difficult, full of joy but also, now, it will be overflowing with sadness. As you write so movingly on Instagram: ‘He was with me for everything, the quiet, the chaos.’

So, I’m very sorry Meghan. Everyone out there with a dog in their lives will hug them a little closer today. My collies have got me through heartbreak, divorce, loneliness, losing my home. And so I reach out a consoling hand to you, too… rest in peace, little tan and white chap. Meghan, hug Mamma Mia, your other rescue beagle, your rescue lab Pula, your children and Harry closer today and know you did all you could for your little Guy. We steer them through life as best we can, knowing one day we will have to say goodbye.