HARRY & MEGHAN'S HOLLYWOOD DEBUT

Why insiders say their bid to be taken seriously in Tinseltown is doomed to fail

- Karleigh Smith

Making their first-ever joint Hollywood awards show appearance at the NAACP Awards in Los Angeles, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex took the first step on their mission to climb the showbiz ladder as a couple.

Prince Harry and his wife Meghan turned heads at the Roosevelt Hotel as they accepted the President’s Award from the civil rights group NAACP for distinguished public service in the United States, with the 37-year-old royal thanking the African American community for “welcoming me so warmly” after their marriage.

Meanwhile, Meghan, 40, wore an eye-catching $3700 Christopher John Rogers dress with $1500 Aquazzura shoes, as well as more than $500,000 worth of jewellery – and she invited her mum Doria Ragland, 65, along for the ride.

While the NAACPs are a small ceremony by Hollywood standards, they’re associated with Meghan’s PR agency Sunshine Sachs and a friend tells us the former Suits star “put a great deal of thought into why it should be her first podium appearance”.

“It’s in line with her core beliefs of promoting black excellence,” says her pal. “She was also testing the water as to how she and Harry would be received by the LA red-carpet scene.”