Markle bugs pontiff

PARIS: She is at war with the Queen – now the “Pope” is turning on Meghan Markle. The Duchess of Sussex is the butt of a string of catty quips in the new television series, “The New Pope”, which premieres on HBO and Sky Atlantic on Monday.

The timing of the show – the follow-up to “The Young Pope” – could not be worse for the American actress, whose bombshell announcement that she and Prince Harry were stepping back from frontline royal duties, has rocked the British monarchy.

The cheeky smash-hit Vatican drama that saw Jude Law’s dishy American pope struck down by a heart attack in the first series, has Markle bombarding his replacement with demands for fashion advice in the second.

“What a nuisance!” barks the fictional Pope John Paul III played by Hollywood star John Malkovich as his butler takes another call supposedly from Markle. “Wear the yellow Dior because it plays up the contrasts with your complexion,” Sir John Brannox, the aristocratic English prelate played by Malkovich tells Markle in one scene.

“No, Meghan I am adamant, wear the yellow,” he adds. “She calls me 25 times a day for beauty tips. She thinks I’m gay,” he later confesses to the Vatican’s spin doctor.

While Markle – who wore Dior for the baptism of son Archie in July -- does not appear herself, she is a recurring presence in the series’ early episodes. “They want to be influencers but they have no idea of colour combinations,” Malkovich’s character adds in one of many takedowns aimed at Markle, who has complained about being persecuted by the British tabloid press. Her husband has branded some of the criticism of the mixed-race former “Suits” star as racist.