With thousands of followers on Twitter, the social networking website, Stephen Fry has come to be regarded as a modern oracle.

The actor and comedian has, however, upset friends of the late Princess Margaret by accusing her of anti-Semitism.

At the HarperCollins History Lecture at the Royal Institute of British Architects, Fry claimed that the Queen's sister had been shocked when he told her at a dinner party that he had Jewish ancestors. Fry, who is a great chum of the Prince of Wales, alleged that she expressed her horror by shouting to everybody else at her table: "He's a Jew. He's a Jew."