AMANDA PLATELL: Photos of bleary-eyed Harry and schmoozing Meghan at Kris Jenner’s birthday bash have mysteriously disappeared… and I think I know the highly embarrassing reason why

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s attendance at Kris Jenner’s star-studded 70th birthday party, held at Jeff Bezos’ $165 million Beverly Hills mansion, hardly went unnoticed.

When they arrived at Anne Kardashian’s no-expense-spared home, paparazzi photos of Harry holding his wife Meghan’s hand instantly spread around the world. And they certainly did not escape the attention of those in Blighty, standing side by side with published photographs of a majestic Royal Family at the Albert Hall on the same day. The radiant Princess Catherine, recovering from cancer, joined the King at the Festival of Remembrance to remember those who made the ultimate sacrifice for our country.

Meanwhile, Harry and a happy Meghan, who has clearly decided to leave her poppy at home, were partying at reality TV star Kris’ James Bond-themed birthday alongside Amazon boss Bezos and his wife Lauren Sanchez, Facebook tycoon Mark Zuckerberg, singers Beyonce, Mariah Carey, Justin Bieber, Stevie Wonder and Alicia Keys, as well as Meg’s best friend and chat show host Oprah Winfrey.

And soon their antics that night became clear. Yesterday, Kris and daughter Kim Kardashian posted a series of photos from the night on Instagram for their 406 million followers to see.

In one of the photos posted on Kim’s Instagram, the reality star was seen posing and smiling at the camera in a dazzling purple Balmain outfit (next to Meghan), paired with a black long-sleeved top and matching maxi skirt.

Other images on Kris’ page showed her in her strapless red dress, sandwiched between Harry and a pouting Meghan; Meghan giggled as she placed her hand on Kris’ shoulder, while a teary-eyed Harry looked on at the pair, with the final photo showing Meghan greeting Netflix boss Reed Hastings with a hug.

However, these photos disappeared as soon as they were uploaded; apparently deleted by both Kris and Kim.

As masterminds of social media and cherry-picked public presences, it’s nearly impossible for Kris or Kim to ‘accidentally’ post photos on Instagram. After all, they must have been delighted to have the Sussexes attend the 70th celebrations.

Harry and Meghan attended the birthday party, while Princess Catherine joined the King at the Festival of Remembrance to remember those who made the ultimate sacrifice for our country.

Kris Jenner’s Bond-themed party had a guest list full of A-list celebs, including singer Mariah Carey

So was it pressure from the Sussexes that led to the deletion of this particular footage?

According to some reports, the couple personally asked for the ‘unapproved’ photos to be deleted and were ‘furious’ that they were published without permission.

“They were polite but firm; nothing goes online without their signature,” a source said. ‘They’ve built their brand on control and they weren’t going to let a Kardashian post ruin that.’

Which brings me to the question: Why might Team Sussex want these photos to be hastily deleted from the internet? As a result, the images of the other participants from the night remain on the internet for everyone to see.

As one attendee at the Kardashian event noted, Meghan was ‘definitely in networking mode and chit-chatting with a lot of the power players.’

In fact, some may think the photo of the Duchess of Sussex fawning over the Netflix CEO after the streaming platform decided not to renew her and Harry’s $150 million deal is deeply embarrassing.

Perhaps Harry and his greedy wife have finally realized that boasting about the greatness and goodness of Los Angeles while his country weeps for war dead is not a good look. Especially when it is reported that she is desperately trying to revive her ties with the Royal Family – as part of a secret public relations exercise called the Thaw Project – and win back the affection of the British public and her 76-year-old father, King Charles, as she battles her own cancer.

Or could it be that the couple were horrified to see Kris’s extremely unpleasant footage and used every resource at their disposal to have it deleted immediately? After all, Meghan wasn’t often photographed from her best angles, while legendary party boy Harry perhaps looked a little worse.

Whatever the reasons, one has to wonder how Harry got himself into this mess. He needs to have a serious communications team to advise him on the tips for attending such a meeting.

So why would the notoriously privacy-obsessed Duke allow himself to be dragged to the biggest celebrity party of the year, especially on Memorial weekend? All you have to do to know the answer is look at Meghan, who arrived sans poppy and enjoyed the company of Los Angeles’ biggest stars.

Doesn’t she know that her husband once had a distinguished military career, serving twice on active duty in Afghanistan and once as a Commander of the Royal Marines, and is now clinging to a Kardashian with whom he was once at the center of somber proceedings at the Cenotaph? It shows everything about her character and her disdain for the British Royal Family and the traditions into which she willingly married and then ruthlessly made money.

It seems to me that Megs must have immediately accepted the invitation to the lavish Kardashian bash, thinking it was the perfect photo shoot for her and her new acting career (it was announced this month that the Duchess is returning to acting after an eight-year absence to star in Amazon MGM Studios’ Close Personal Friends).

Eager to make Hollywood connections, she probably didn’t think about the optics in Blighty and her husband, who by many accounts was desperate to reconcile with his family and return home one day.

Photos released after the incident appear to have left the Sussexes unnerved. I just hope it’s Harry, remembering that his lifelong duty was once to King and Country, not Tinseltown, and saying ‘enough is enough’ to his wife for once.

Unfortunately I doubt it.

Worse still, I fear that the downtrodden Duke will continue to whine for the rest of his life, humiliated by his wife’s disrespect for Royal Family traditions, and forced to endure poppy, unpoppy events like Saturday night.