To her friends and neighbours in rural Zambia, Margret Chola is just a charming grandmother with a penchant for oversized sunglasses.

But online, she is a fashion legend with 200,000 Instagram fans – after her granddaughter lent her some clothes for a cheeky series of photoshoots.

Ms Chola, aged in her mid-80s, shot to internet stardom after agreeing to swap outfits with her granddaughter and pose for a few snaps, clad in bold turquoise dresses and silver pantsuits.

The photographs were an instant sensation on Instagram, gaining a thousand likes within minutes of being posted on the social media website.

In one photoshoot, Ms Chola, who lives on a farm north of the Zambian capital Lusaka, poses in a blonde wig on a leather sofa, wearing a large pair of green sunglasses.

She has also been photographed in her granddaughter’s chitenge, a patterned garment worn around the waist.

“I wasn’t doing anything at the time, so I just said: ‘OK. If that’s what you want to do let’s do it – why not?’” Ms Chola said in an interview with the BBC, recalling the moment her granddaughter came up with the idea. “You will miss me when I die and at least this way you will be remembering me.”

Ms Chola’s granddaughter is Diana Kaumba, a New York-based stylist who had been visiting Zambia to mark the second anniversary of her father’s death, when inspiration struck.

“I thought it would be nice to dress up Mbuya [grandmother] in high fashion and then take photographs of her in her natural habitat,” she told the BBC.

“I was so nervous when I posted that first photo. I left my phone for 10 minutes and in those 10 minutes there were 1,000 likes. My mind was blown. The comments were flying in and people were asking for more,” she added.

Ms Chola even appears in one photograph next to a goat, wearing a gold crown, sunglasses and a regal jacket with gold buttons.

The photograph was entitled “GOAT,” a playful acronym for “greatest of all time” used by Generation-Z.

Ms Chola told the BBC that she hopes the photoshoots will inspire her Instagram fans “to live their lives and not worry about being judged by society”.

People should also “always forgive yourself for whatever mistakes you made,” she advised. “You can never change your past, but you can change your future.”

Female journalists are rallying around Telegraph columnist Allison Pearson, saying they could be next to face police investigations for their social media posts or columns.

Pearson is being investigated by three police forces over a deleted tweet.

She was visited by Essex Police at her home on Remembrance Sunday over the allegedly offensive tweet, though the officers would not tell her what it said or who had made a complaint.

On Saturday, Daily Mail columnist Sarah Vine said the visit was a “frightening moment” for female journalists who “console ourselves with the thought that the police and responsible authorities have our back”.

Journalist Rachel Johnson has expressed support for Pearson and raised concerns about the safety of female journalists, saying “any one of us could be next”.

“This is the Je Suis Allison Pearson moment for anyone who makes their living from writing or speaking their mind in Starmer’s Britain,” she said.

“The Government is putting a numbing effect on discourse. We should remember we are not in Eastern Europe under the communists.

“Policing speech is complete nonsense. I feel totally aggrieved on Allison’s behalf because it’s a total waste of police time.”

Reposting an article in defence of Pearson written by her brother Boris Johnson, the former prime minister, Johnson said: “Hear hear ⁦- and so say all of us standing with ⁦@AllisonPearson.”

“They messed with the wrong Welshwoman this time but any one of us could be next.”

Vine wrote on X, formerly Twitter: “Journalists, and especially female journalists, are used to receiving a lot of abuse. It’s not easy, but it comes with the territory. We console ourselves with the thought that the police and responsible authorities have our back. What has happened to @‌AllisonPearson has shown that is no longer true. It’s a frightening moment for press freedom. The fact that @‌Keir_Starmer seems okay with it is even more chilling.”

Sonia Sodha, chief leader writer for The Observer, also came to Pearson’s defence, despite not sharing her political views.

She said: “That deleted Allison Pearson tweet was nasty, unwise and wrong. But that it should be the subject of a criminal investigation feels like absurd levels of police overreach.

“The police have an appalling record when it comes to policing speech. Any liberal who cares about our fundamental democratic rights should be worried about it,” she wrote.

“And there are examples of both left and right governments in the UK handing too much unqualified power over speech and protest to the police. It’s an issue across the political spectrum.”

Journalist and royal biographer Angela Levin also weighed in to support Pearson. She wrote on X: “I am so angry that a top, honourable journalist like you [has] been treated so badly. The Police on the other hand are creating rules and behaviours that we must not go along with. My thoughts are with you.”

The investigation into Pearson has triggered a debate on Non-Crime Hate Incidents (NCHI), which are recorded by police but are not against the law.

The tweet was investigated both as a possible NCHI and a possible breach of the Malicious Communications Act. Essex Police have said they are investigating Pearson under section 17 of the Public Order Act for allegedly stirring up racial hatred with a social media post made in November last year.

On Thursday, Downing Street said the Government was reviewing how police forces handle NCHI.

‘If it’s not a crime, police should stay away’

On Saturday, Donna Jones, the former chief police and crime commissioner, said police officers should not go to people’s homes over offensive online posts.

“The police should not be going to somebody’s home if they have not committed a crime,” said Ms Jones, former chairman of the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners.

“If the police determine it’s not a crime, it’s not a hate crime, then they should not be going and knocking on someone’s door and encouraging them to come in for a voluntary interview or undertaking some kind of enhanced thinking course.

“Where I don’t agree with the current law and the process, and by the way a lot of the police are very frustrated about this as well, is that if it is a non crime, it should stop there,” she said.

“Yes, collect the data, feed it into the Home Office, that someone has reported that someone has done something that has offended them.”

Speaking on Radio 4’s Today programme, Ms Jones said the treatment of NCHI should “radically change”.

Ms Jones serves as Conservative Police and Crime Commissioner in Hampshire.

Kemi Badenoch, the leader of the Conservative Party, told the Telegraph on Friday: “We need to stop this behaviour of people wasting police time on trivial incidents because they don’t like something, as if they’re in a nursery.”

Chris Philp, shadow home secretary, and Suella Braverman, former home secretary, have also expressed concern about the policing of NCHI.

Geoffrey Robertson KC, one of the country’s leading lawyers, has said: “the Essex investigation is a waste of public money.”