William larks around on a boat in Ibiza with Kate and the Middleton clan in never-before-seen pictures

By MAIL ON SUNDAY REPORTER

Athletic in Ibiza: Pippa Middleton performs a flawless backflip in to the warm waters of the Mediterranean as an admiring Kate looks on from the stern of the motor yacht


They were carefree days before the world became entranced by their every movement.

This is Kate Middleton and her sister Pippa as they've never been seen before, enjoying an exuberant holiday in Ibiza with their family and Prince William.

Taken in 2006, these previously unseen pictures capture a fleeting moment in the lives of the couple when they could behave like ordinary twentysomethings, unencumbered by the responsibilities they now carry as the new stars of the Royal Family.



Playful: Pippa climbs back aboard as William jokingly grabs Kate; right, the sisters relax on deck, with Kate using her camera


Sunshine days: William, in red shorts, with Pippa (left), Carole, in green bikini, and other holiday guests


They show the Prince larking around with Kate and Pippa, the girls' mother Carole and their brother James on a boat belonging to Carole's brother Gary Goldsmith during a week-long sunshine holiday to Ibiza.

Pippa shows off her athletic prowess -- and her enviably toned physique -- performing a backwards dive into the sea.

Kate, who also looks stunning in her white bikini, is content to stand back and watch.


Heir in the air: Watched by Carole, Kate, James (in the patterned shorts) and Pippa, William attempts a backflip from the boat...


... but the young royal finishes with an ungainly belly-flop into the water


Making waves: The Prince failed to match Pippa's graceful aquatic display


Carole, who won admiration at the wedding for her elegant appearance, also reveals a youthfully trim figure in an emerald green bikini.

Meanwhile, in his red swimming shorts, William could be any young man eager to impress his girlfriend by performing a backflip -- which somehow turns into a belly-flop by the time he hits the water.


Her Royal Hotness: Pippa in her bridesmaid's dress at her sister's wedding


The pictures reveal the extent to which the Middletons invited William into the heart of their family.

During their week in Ibiza, they stayed at Gary's £5million villa, dubbed 'La Maison de Bang Bang'.


source: dailymail

Forget Kate! The dressmakers working overtime on copycat gowns for brides-to-be... who all want to look like Pippa

By Tamara Abraham


The Pippa effect: Many women in the U.S. are demanding copies of the maid-of-honour's dress from the Royal Wedding, rather than the bride's


Bridesmaids' dresses are typically unattractive creations in saccharine peach or mint green. But Pippa Middleton's slinky white gown for her sister's wedding last week was such a knockout, fashion houses are working overtime to get copies in store.

While many had already been planning to replicate the new Duchess of Cambridge's bridal gown, designers admit they didn't anticipate the success of the maid-of-honour's.

Now several companies are responding to demand from brides-to-be, keen to channel 27-year-old Pippa's look for their own big day.


They believe this is the first time a bridesmaid's dress, rather than a bride's has sparked such demand.

David’s Bridal, which is among the companies working on a version of the cowl-neck gown, says the interest is unprecedented.

Design director Dan Rentillo told the New York Times: 'There was really no anticipation about Pippa’s dress. I can’t think of one where there was such a fuss over the bridesmaid’s dress.'

Andrew Hops, vice president for JS Collections, added: 'She wore it so well, so we said, "We’ll do that dress right away."'

Meeting demand: Dan Rentillo, design director at David's Bridal, will be ordering as many copies of Pippa's dress as he will of Catherine's


Manhattan dressmaker Faviana is also cashing in on the Pippa effect.

'It almost looked like a bridal gown,' said chief executive Omid Moradi. 'The second we saw it on the screen, it was beautiful. It was just very elegant and glamorous.'

Both Catherine and Pippa's dresses were designed by Sarah Burton, creative director of Alexander McQueen.

Faviana, which typically orders between 500 and 3,000 or any given design, believes that the main bridal gown, which will retail for $1,800, will outsell the 'Pippa' dress, which it will be pricing at $$320.

But other labels are convinced that copies of Pippa's dress will outsell replicas of Catherine's.

Unexpected trend: Mr Rentillo said that he couldn't think of a time when so much fuss was made over the bridesmaid's dress

Sketch in time: All three companies already have samples made up, and expect to get dresses on sale within six to eight weeks


JS Collections has already ordered more of the maid-of-honour-inspired dresses, while David’s Bridal says it expects to order equal numbers of both gowns.

But time is of the essence for all three companies, who already have samples made up, and expect to get dresses on sale within six to eight weeks.

Mr Moradi explained: 'We want to get to market. The demand is now.

'Before she even walked down the red carpet, we were getting calls from customers and consumers [asking], "When can we get it?" "I have an event next month, can I have it then?"'

Brian Beitler, executive vice president for David’s Bridal, added: 'The immediacy of the world that we live in today changes our customers’, and our brides’, expectations on how quickly we can respond.'



source:dailymail

There's something about Pippa's dress: Cameron Diaz wore the maid-of-honour's gown to last year's Golden Globes

By Lauren Paxman


Royal wedding replica: Pippa Middleton's maid-of-honour dress is the same style as one worn by Cameron Diaz in January 2010


Hundreds of pounds were won, and lost, speculating on what kind of dress Kate Middleton would choose to wear on her wedding day.

But in the end, the biggest sartorial surprise (we all knew Kate would look incredible), was how wonderful her younger sister Pippa looked in her ivory Alexander McQueen creation.

And while replicas of Kate's lacy number will be walked up and down aisles all over the world within weeks, Miss Middleton's capped-sleeved column was already gracing red carpets months ago.


Cameron Diaz chose a red, satin version of the dress more than a year ago at the 2010 Golden Globes ceremony.

The pre-fall 2009 cowl-neck gown was originally intended to be worn with a chunky black leather belt, giving it a harder edge. But both Miss Middleton and Diaz chose to wear the fitting dress with minimal accessories.

Miss Middleton's white version, which is reported to have cost her parents £20,000, was softened a little with lace edging to her capped sleeves and decolletage.

However the cowl neck and beautiful hourglass silhouette was identical to the dress Diaz wore, and impressively Miss Middleton pulled off the look just as well as the A-list actress, looking even slimmer than the Hollywood star.

Sartorially stunning: Pippa asked Sarah Burton's team at Alexander McQueen to finish off the dress with a line of silk-covered buttons that went right down her spine


The maid of honour wore floral diamond earring studs deigned by her mother, white Jimmy Choos and lily of the valley flowers in her hair.

She also asked Sarah Burton's team at Alexander McQueen to finish off the dress with a line of silk-covered buttons that went right down her spine.

Diaz accessorised her outfit with a Van Cleef and Arpel bracelet, Ferragamo peep-toe shoes and a big umbrella.

Alterations: Pippa's version was softened a little with lace edging to her capped sleeves, the dress was originally intended to be worn with a big belt


The actress was styled by celebrity favourite Rachel Zoe at last January's ceremony - proving that the Middleton sisters really do have stellar taste.

Diaz had reportedly originally chosen a grey Versace Atelier dress to wear to the Globes, but it was 'stolen' the day before the ceremony.

The scandal became the most searched for story on Google - but many suspected it of being a hoax to boost ratings of Zoe's reality TV show.




source:dailymail

From faux chav to green goddess... a shake of a tail feather and Pippa goes global (and becomes the world's most eligible woman)

By Jan Moir


Glamorous: The Duchess of Cambridge's only sister has become an overnight sensation following her sister's wedding to Prince William


A life can change in a moment. And certainly something seismic happened to Pippa Middleton when she stepped out of the car at Westminster Abbey.

As far as the world is concerned, it was BC and AD. Before the Church, then After the Dress.

Yes, Kate’s glorious bridal gown rightly grabbed all the headlines. But smoking hot on her heels was lil’ sis, poured into a column of buttermilk satin, in a button-backed dress that was tighter than a coat of paint.


True, its unforgiving structure meant Pippa had to mince up and down the Abbey aisle like a geisha with corns, but it was worth it.

After all, her role as maid of honour was a secondary one. Hold the bouquet, keep smiling, don’t let the bride get spinach on her teeth.

Most importantly, she had to attend to a majestic bridal train that was almost nine feet long. A duty that required a lot of bending over.

So if you have to do this in front of a global audience of billions, you might as well bunny dip in an unforgettable frock that is going to maximise your best asset.

Mince, mince, mince, dip, dip, dip, she went; our glorious Pippa the Big Dipper. Not since the first Panzer tank turned and fled at the battle of El Alamein has a rear end made such an impression on the world.

The impact has been incredible. So much so it is no exaggeration to say everything has changed for Pippa.

Party girl: Pippa Middleton is almost unrecognisable from her University days. She loves fancy dress


In one shake of a tail feather, she has become a global celebrity, a household name and one of the most talked about people at the wedding of the century. More than that, she is now one of the most eligible women in the world.

F ROM this moment on, Pippa can have her pick of the aristocracy, the landed gentry, the new rich, assorted gassy celebrities, the Chelsea back four.

Anyone really, up to and including Prince Harry, if his wolfish expression was anything to go by.

One could understand if her current beau, Alex Loudon, 30, starts to look worried.

The lantern-jawed banker is the rich scion of a stately home, former cricket international and friend of Prince William’s since Eton. But will he be enough to keep Pippa?

For in the three days since the wedding, her stock has soared a million-fold. She’s in big, big demand.

American magazines will want to put her on their covers, fashion designers will want her to wear their creations and dukes will be queuing up to marry her.

Not to mention the swarms of rogues and rascals who will want to distil some of that royal potency for their own dastardly ends.

Fun: Pippa sports a Burberry cap and a fake barbed wire tattoo to pose as a chav. At another party she wrapped herself in toilet paper

Joker: Pippa is known for her fun-loving party attitude and is usually the centre of attention when out and about


As has been said before, Pippa is the Middleton who gets the best deal out of the royal romance; all of the attention, without the responsibility and restraint of protocol.

Yet no one could have imagined that the confetti of global approval would shower around her quite so explosively. And as her appeal hits hitherto unimaginable heights, the question is: just what will Pippa do with her new-found fame?

The new Duchess of Cambridge might be content to bumble back to the relative anonymity of being an RAF wife in Anglesey, but what about Pippa? Will she be able to restrain herself from turning down the clarion call to become a celebrity?

For a girl like Pippa, who has always had the flinty spark of ambition in her pretty eyes, the temptation to capitalise must be overwhelming.

Since William and Kate started dating, the discreet Middletons have barely put a foot wrong — give or take a few unwise ‘royal’ items on their party planning website — but if anyone’s going to break ranks and smash the royal glass ceiling (not to mention Cinderella’s glass slipper) you can bet it will be Pippa.

For now that her appetite has been whetted, what will she do to trump this stardust moment of global attention?

Pippa has always loved the limelight her sister’s relationship has brought, and there has always been the suspicion that hanging back in the shadows has been frustrating.

Now that she’s emerged as the more glamorous and sexy half of the world’s best-known sister act, it seems unlikely she will be prepared to melt back into those shadows.

Perhaps the prospect of a safe marriage to a rich banker like Alex and a career as a party planner will pale beside the treats now on offer to her in the great finger buffet of life.

Her personal history suggests she might be tempted. Philippa Charlotte Middleton is Carole and Michael Middleton’s second daughter and their middle child. She grew up in Berkshire and, like her sister and younger brother, attended Marlborough College in Wiltshire. Then she studied English Literature at Edinburgh University.

There, her social ambitions flourished. Pippa made it her business to hang out with the kind of men who mattered. To her, at any rate.

Rear of the year: Pippa Middleton's rear became one of the most talked about things on the internet

Her Royal Hotness: The 27-year-old has received a huge amount of attention since she was her sister's bridesmaid


Her Edinburgh flatmates were Lord Edward Innes-Ker, a son of the Duke of Roxburgh, and Earl Percy, heir to the Duke of Northumberland. Her boyfriends appear to have leapt from the pages of a Jilly Cooper novel; they include Jonathan ‘JJ’ Jardine Paterson, an heir to the Hong Kong Jardine Matheson property fortune, Scottish aristocrat Billy More Nesbitt and diamond heir Simon Youngman. Flash.

After graduation, Pippa managed to arrange a not-too-taxing career combining the two main interests in her life — partying and networking.

She worked at London events planner Table Talk and last year began writing the online magazine for her parents’ party business.

In 2008 she was named Number One Society Singleton by Tatler magazine, eclipsing her new brother-in-law’s cousin Princess Eugenie. She has been waiting for her moment — has it finally arrived? Some say Pippa is far too cool to cash in and that she would never endanger her sister’s reputation. But Kate is married and there’s not so much to lose.

A different set of rules apply now the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have left the centre stage to start married life together.

For years, Pippa was straining at the leash. She would arrange personal interviews and photo shoots, only to pull out at the last moment. What happens next is anyone’s guess.

O NE THING is sure: whatever she decides to do or not do, she is on the threshold of a potent kind of celebrity, even if it is only by royal association.

In any other world, she might be just another party planner with a clipboard, swoosh of fabulous hair and some good ideas about table placements. In the orbit of the Duchess of Cambridge, she can become a star.

Joker: Even Prince Harry couldn't resist trying to charm the younger sibling of his new sister-in-law

I'll be back: Pippa Middleton leaves the Goring Hotel with her family after her sister's wedding but is sure to be in the spotlight again


It has been a remarkable ascent. Before the wedding was over, several Facebook sites were set up in honour of her sainted bottom. Everyone is raving about the 27-year-old brunette dubbed Her Royal Hotness, now and for ever more.

Despite her un-Windsorish fondness for toffee-coloured fake tan, Pippa almost stole the royal wedding show. However, let us not forget that what was mostly on show was a sweet mutual respect and sisterly solidarity between the Middleton girls.

Pippa looked thrilled and proud, executing her maid of honour duties with unshowy aplomb. Kate was generous and kind to allow her sister to shine in such a slinky, attention-grabbing, mini-bride outfit.

Indeed, a less munificent bride would have drowned Pippa in an avalanche of knicker pink taffeta ruffles, just to be on the safe side.

Let us hope the Duchess of Cambridge does not come to regret this act of sororial generosity.

For now that glamorous Pippa is out of her box, she might never want to climb back in again. She is ready for her close-up, Mr DeMille! Lights, camera, bunny dip and dip again.

However, I do wonder if Kate has unwittingly unleashed the beast at the heart of the Middleton family.

At the end of the day, Pippa is a striking girl with a delightful figure. Nothing more and nothing less. What is amazing, even in this day and age, is what a great dress and proximity to the Royal Family can do to burnish a young woman’s reputation and allure.

Whether or not Pippa Middleton uses this power wisely, we shall have to wait and see.

Forget Pippa, Chelsy's the only girl for Harry

To many, the chemistry between best man Prince Harry and maid of honour Pippa Middleton at the wedding was palpable.
A grinning Harry, 26, was seen telling her as they walked out of Westminster Abbey: ‘You do look very beautiful today – seriously.’

In reality, there is only one woman in his life – on-off girlfriend Chelsy Davy, 25.

But friends, who likened the couple to Romeo and Juliet’s ‘star-crossed lovers’, say their different lives make their relationship difficult. Zimbabwean-born Chelsy enjoys the freedom of Africa, while Harry is bound by his royal duties.

The pair first met in Cape Town in South Africa in 2004 during Harry’s gap year travels. But Chelsy has always fiercely valued her independence – and the fact she is completely un-phased about dating a prince has only made Harry want her more.

They both wear their hearts on their sleeves – which has led to some blazing rows and periods of angry separation.

In 2009 Chelsy quit her legal studies in the UK and returned to Africa, telling friends she ‘could never, ever see herself as a member of the Royal Family’. Harry was devastated. A friend said: ‘When one of her friends asked him when he would be visiting Cape Town again, Harry texted back, “I don’t know. I lost the best thing that ever happened to me and I’m paying for it”.’

But within months they were back together. Chelsy, whose father has made a multi-million-pound fortune selling hunting holidays to wealthy Americans, has moved back to the UK and starts work as a solicitor this autumn.

The week before the wedding the pair flew to Botswana for a brief but romantic holiday. On Thursday Harry visited her at her London flat, and the pair returned to the Belgravia address in the early hours of Saturday.

According to reports, they openly kissed at the Buckingham Palace reception on Friday. One source claimed that the prince nuzzled up to her and whispered: ‘You’re next.’

But another said: ‘Chelsy loves Harry but her heart is back with her family in Africa. She hates all the hoop-la that comes with dating a royal... she says, “All of that fuss, it’s just not for me”.’


source:dailymail

Her Royal Hotness: How Kate's foxy sister Pippa stole the show (leaving naughty Uncle Gary to languish in the shadows)

By Catherine Ostler


Stylish choice: Pippa Middleton's slinky white cowl-neck dress showed off her slender figure, while the cap sleeves kept it youthful. The back of the dress was studded with tiny silk-covered buttons


The day might have belonged to the new Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, but the supporting cast were almost as gripping, and none of them more so than the members of what is fast becoming Britain’s most famous and fascinating family.

Middleton-watchers were amply rewarded with a spectacle of nerves, tans, dignity, surprising outfits and sex appeal (yes, that refers to you, Miss Philippa Middleton!).

Indeed, you could even say that the Westminster Abbey Show felt just as much Bucklebury (the Berkshire village where the Middletons live) as it did Buckingham Palace — despite all the trumpeters and foreign dignitaries.

The Duchess of Cambridge's uncle Gary, right, went pretty much unnoticed while her brother, James was given a starring role with the only person to give a reading during the wedding service at Westminster Abbey

Elegant: Pippa, pictured entering Westminster Abbey this morning with the bridesmaids and pageboys, echoed the bride's dress in a design by Sarah Burton for Alexander McQueen


For that we can thank the lively nature of that close-knit, party-loving Home Counties family.

Even the trees lining the Abbey aisle seemed to be a reminder of the oak-lined avenue that leads through Bucklebury to the Middleton manse. They served like lights on a runway to guide the Middletons to take-off as the family became linked for ever to the British monarchy.

Only Earl Spencer in a front row abbey seat and looking like an overgrown member of the Bullingdon Club could offer advice from personal experience of how bumpy a journey that can sometimes be.

But the Middletons out in force, it has to be said, just make everything look like enormous fun.


For royalists, Disney fans, romantics and young girls, the bride who became a Princess before our very eyes and her smart groom were the only hero and heroine.

But right on their tail in terms of youth, glamour and audience excitement was the new Duchess’s fabulously foxy younger sister Philippa, otherwise known as Pippa.
Certainly, among many a red-blooded male, and on social networking site Twitter, Pippa was, plainly ‘It’.

Within minutes of her arrival, the younger Miss Middleton had nearly crashed the Twitter site as thousands of wedding watchers tweeted in enthusiastic praise of Her Royal Hotness.

The 27-year-old party planner was notably darker than her sister and looking all the more so because, very unusually for a bridesmaid, she was also wearing white.

‘She was mahogany in colour,’ said one guest, ‘but absolutely gorgeous. She looked amazing.’

Her slinky frock, like her sister’s, by Sarah Burton at Alexander McQueen, was made of ‘heavy, ivory, satin crepe’ and sported the same embroidery and buttons as her sister’s dress, but had youthful cupped sleeves, a surprisingly low cowl-neck — for an abbey — and a resulting suggestion of cleavage.

Many women would have been quite happy to wear Pippa’s dress themselves as a wedding dress. One wit remarked: ‘It would have looked particularly good for a beach ceremony for a wedding somewhere like Ibiza.’

Responsibility: Pippa walked down the aisle with the two youngest bridesmaids Grace van Cutsem (left) and Eliza Lopes (right), both three.
They were followed by Margarita Armstrong-Jones, eight (middle left), Louise Windsor, seven, (middle right), Billy Lowther-Pinkerton, ten, (back left) and Tom Pettifer, eight (back right)

Bridal party: The maid-of-honour held the two youngest bridesmaids' hands as they entered the Abbey

Pippa wore her hair half-up and half-down, clipped with lily-of-the-valley flowers at the back, and she walked into the Abbey beaming, holding the hands of the two smallest bridesmaids, Grace van Cutsem and Eliza Lopes (both aged three), having meticulously straightened her sister’s train.

Her parents had given her a pair of floral diamond earrings as a present, designed, like her sister’s, by Robinson Pelham (whose creative director Zoe Benyon was a wedding guest and who is married to the Middletons’ local MP Richard Benyon).

Pippa executed her duties (holding and passing the bouquet, smoothing the train, shepherding pages and bridesmaids up and down and making sure none of them got left behind) beautifully. But her efficiency wasn’t necessarily the focus.

Many women admired her dress, but an army of male fans were happily distracted by her shapely rear as the procession went up the aisle.

It certainly seemed that Prince Harry was smitten as he walked back down the aisle with her, sharing some piece of jolly mischief.

Though by the time they came out on to the Buckingham Palace balcony he had his grandfather the Duke of Edinburgh to compete with, as the duke indulged in a little light jokey flirting, discovering his sense of humour for the maid-of-honour’s benefit. (And why should the fact that he’s nearly 90 stop him sharing banter with such an adept bridesmaid?)

For many, it became irresistible to indulge in a little what-if speculation about the idea of Harry and Pippa enjoying themselves late into the night on the dance floor under the mirror balls in the Throne Room . . . Chelsy, if she is still interested, had better reveal her hand now.

The other Middleton sibling, brother James, the third acorn on the family crest (is he now sporting a brand new signet ring on his pinkie, emblazoned with it?) had an equally key role, being — unusually — the only lay speaker, and definitely the only one without a bushy grey beard.

The 23-year-old Cake Kit entrepreneur and wannabe Richard Branson also looked as if he’d had a close encounter with a Fake Bake spray gun (though rumours that a company had set up a booth for the family the night before in The Goring Hotel were quickly denied).

He arrived with his mother in a Jaguar and escorted her down the aisle. But his starring moment came when he read the lesson from Romans Chapter 12.

Doting sister: Pippa carries Kate's train as she enters Westminster Abbey with her father, Michael Middleton

Moment in the spotlight: Pippa then proudly carried her newly-married sister's train out of the Abbey after the wedding, before helping her into a waiting horse-drawn carriage


Smartly and slightly flamboyantly dressed in tail coat, pale yellow waistcoat, blue shirt with white collar and a purple tie (with a tie pin sporting that ubiquitous oak motif), he didn’t smile much, but he did get all his words out without a single stumble and seemed to know it all off by heart.

If anything, the Middleton parents looked more nervous than their children. One-time flight dispatcher Michael Middleton (‘What a day for the Yorkshire son of an airline pilot!’ a BBC commentator helpfully announced) has never seemed like a man who relishes attention and looked less than relaxed about dispatching his elder daughter into the Windsor family.

But like any proud father handing over his daughter, he was a touching sight. He was seen reassuring Kate: ‘Are you ready? You look great.’

Caring: Pippa clearly relished her role as maid-of-honour, which involved escorting three of the youngsters - (left to right) Billy, Grace and Margarita - to Buckingham Palace as part of the wedding procession

Ladies -in-waiting: Pippa Middleton and young Margarita give the crowds a wave as they leave the Abbey

Helping hand: Best man Prince Harry supported Pippa in her duties, taking care of his seven-year-old cousin, Lady Louise Windsor in the procession to Buckingham Palace


He clutched her hand tightly at the altar until he passed it to Prince William when he gave her away.

At which point he looked rather relieved to have got the major part of his role out of the way. One hopes someone gave him a glass of something strong post haste at the Palace.

But the greatest relief of all must have been that the family black sheep, Uncle Gary, former cocaine addict and owner of Ibiza palace Le Maison de Bang Bang, was hardly to be seen.

Though seen leaving his mews flat in his £280,000 Rolls-Royce, tattoos fully covered in a pink shirt and slightly odd grey tail coat with grey waistcoat — tan freshly topped up courtesy of The Electric Beach in the days before the wedding — no one spotted him going in to the Abbey as the world was distracted by the fashion parade.

And for the Middleton family brand image, that can only be a good thing.

Uncle Gary was taken to the wedding in a £280,000 Rolls while his tattoos, visible right, were covered







source:dailymail

Loving the limelight, Philippa is the Middleton sister who doesn't know the meaning of self-doubt. Just don't call her Pippa!

By Catherine Ostler


On show: Pippa Middleton steps out of her cab at the engagement party of Holly Branson at The Roof Gardens Club in West London last Friday

The legs are on show, and the characteristic fake tan is visible through the shiny sheer tights.

She wears towering black stilettos, a brief cocktail dress, lots of twinkling diamond jewellery and heavy make-up — pink blusher and black eyeliner all around the eyes, applied with a trowel. A broad grin is the finishing touch.

Pippa Middleton's appearance in front of the photographers who clamoured for her picture as she left the engagement party of Richard Branson's daughter Holly in West London last Friday cleared up one thing at least: the chief maid of honour is certainly relishing her newfound attention.

Of course, if her sister wasn't marrying the second in line to the throne, Pippa would just be another passably attractive arts graduate from a second-tier university. But in Kate's orbit, she can be a star.

In short, the Bucklebury kitten has got the cream.

Weather girls, Hollywood starlets, Oscar nominees and potential prime ministers have looked less comfortable than she posing for the camera on the publicity circuit.

There 'Perfect Pippa' was again yesterday, in the car with her sister Kate, wearing tasteful navy; and then driving her mother Carole around, sporting 'aviator' shades.

She couldn't have looked less bothered by the latest rumour to emerge from the Palace: that aides have been put out by her bright idea of suspending disco mirror balls in Buckingham Palace's Throne Room for the 'post wedding breakfast disco', to lend it a louche nightclub vibe.

Mirror balls might seem neither original nor necessary, given that the gold-and-red Throne Room is one of the most opulent in the Palace, and a few cheap glittery balls will surely lose in a fight with one of the elaborate gold chandeliers.

But 27-year-old Pippa is nothing if not determined, and she will see off such dinosaur views.

She is one of life's organisers. And as recent pictures amply testify, self-doubt is not her speciality.

Kate's maid of honour is, of course, by trade a party planner, working three days a week at Clapham company Table Talk. She has tactfully wheeled in her accommodating boss, JoJo Browner, to help out tomorrow night.

'Perfect Pippa': Kate's sister looks at ease in aviator shades as she drives her mother Carole away from their family home in Bucklebury yesterday


Pippa spends the other two days of the week editing The Party Times, the online magazine that is a spin-off to her parents' company, Party Pieces.

On Monday, Party Times was pushing customers to buy last-minute bunting for British Street Parties, but this was taken down after all-too-familiar accusations of opportunism.

Pippa gave one interview to promote the site. Another was — at Kate's request — cancelled at the last minute.

Both of these roles are an extension of what Pippa most liked doing at Edinburgh University — which was organising shindigs for friends, and shepherding bright young things into after-dinner activities at grand house parties.

She has, apparently, taken two weeks off from her job to help plan the evening party for 300 at the Palace.

As William wants the evening to be 'young and cool' — odd, given that he has never particularly come across as either of those things — it seems to have been decided that part of the Palace should be transformed into a branch of that somewhat decadent London club, Boujis, for the night.


Pippa's close friend, the raffish Old Etonian nightclub owner Charlie Gilkes, is said to be organising the disco.

He runs Maggie's nightclub in the Fulham Road, which is an Eighties-themed tribute club to Margaret Thatcher, with stools styled to look like those symbols of the age — Rubik's cubes. (You get the picture.)

Furniture and accessories are being imported into the Palace for the night, to differentiate Pippa's party from the rest of the day's celebrations (which will, hopefully, be sympathetic to Palace features rather than trying to eclipse them).

Prince Charles might have won the catering battle by insisting on his favourite chef Anton Mosimann (his menu is a state secret, though one hears whispers of crab followed by lamb), but Pippa is said to have dreamed up the bacon butty and ice cream vans that will sit outside.

Great organiser: Pippa at a party for Starlight Children's Foundation at The Saatchi Gallery in London, left and with her brother James, right


(Like Marie Antoinette and her toy farm, there is nothing jolly young Sloanes love more than a bit of faux proletarian fodder. They find it amusing, so much so that we are in real danger of getting Wills and Kate 'rock 'n' Royal' pork scratchings at this rate.)

At the same time, just as Kate has asked that she be known as Catherine, apparently Pippa has asked to be called Philippa, but this may just be Palace malice.

True or not, she does now have her very own coat of arms; after Friday, Pippa will be the only person entitled to use Kate's original 'three-acorn-with-black-runs' job topped by a blue ribbon. (The bow represents the unmarried Middleton female.)

The recent suggestion that she might use her newfound fame and party planning experience to set up her own company 'in conjunction with her parents' seems highly likely.

She wouldn't be the first of her siblings to do so.

The third acorn on that crest, little brother James Middleton, is less visible than his sisters, but the 23-year-old has registered a series of companies in the past two weeks.

By her sister's side: Kate and Pippa leave their home in Berkshire earlier this week


Not content with the Cake Kit Company (it does what it says on the cake tin — you get all the kit to make a themed cake, be it football or a pink castle, for around £16), James has also registered Nice Cakes, Nice Wine and Nice Group London. All of which suggests an appetite for empire-building unhampered by the tiresome necessity of gleaning experience anywhere.

Like James, Pippa could reduce any start-up costs by setting herself up through her parents' company, publicising herself on their website and locating herself in the Party Pieces' HQ in Berkshire.

It is quite natural that, like James — the two of them share a flat in Chelsea that their parents bought in 2002 — Pippa should now want to be an entrepreneur.

Apart from being the children of self-starters, every young toff now thinks it is their destiny to be the next Branson.


Happy times: Kate, Pippa and their mother at her 26th birthday party in 2007


The younger Middletons have reassuringly close examples in their own set, such as Jamie Murray Wells — William's friend and the now very rich founder of Glasses Direct.

Just as you'll have to search very hard for the notorious and once easily available pictures of James Middleton in a frock at a party, neither will you find friends' pictures on Facebook of a perky Pippa wrapped in loo roll at a private party any more.

Her boyfriend, City financier and former England cricketer Alex Loudon, seems not to share his girlfriend's comfort in the limelight, since he's rarely seen by her side.

On Friday, it will be Prince Harry who will accompany Pippa into the signing of the Register and back down the Abbey aisle.

And by that time any fear — misplaced or not — that the socially hungry Middleton clan's behaviour could affect Kate's relationship with William will have lost its potency.

From now on, Pippa will find herself in the happy position of being sought after in the upper echelons of society, and able to do pretty much whatever she likes.

And on current form, we can be sure that the younger Miss Middleton will enjoy that.



source:dailymail

Harry invites Chelsy to wedding...while Pippa may be lady-in-waiting

By Katie Nicholl



On or off? Prince Harry with Chelsy Davy earlier this year, before their split


Prince Harry has invited Chelsy Davy to his brother’s wedding – even though they split up two months ago.

Friends of the on-off couple, who dated for five years before they parted in September, say the news could be an indication that they are getting back together.

The pair have been back in touch and Harry, 26, is hoping to travel to Africa to see Zimbabwean-born Chelsy during a break in his pilot training over Christmas.


Chelsy, 25, who is in South Africa completing her law training, last week contacted Kate Middleton to congratulate her on her wedding news.

‘Chelsy was genuinely happy for Kate and wanted to wish her all the best,’ says one of Chelsy’s friends. ‘She has been speaking to Harry, who’s very excited about the wedding and helping William plan his big day.

‘It got Chelsy thinking that she would like to be there, too. All of her friends in Jo’burg are predicting that she will be at the wedding.’

Harry, who will be William’s best man or ‘supporter’, has asked William for Chelsy to be put on the guest list. ‘The invitations haven’t gone out yet but William and Kate are drawing up lists,’ says a source.

‘Harry has said he would like Chelsy on the list because they are back in touch, even if she just comes over as a friend. William has always liked Chelsy and doesn’t have a problem with her being there and neither does Kate. They’d both love to see her again.’


Guest list: Chelsy Davy, left, has been invited to the wedding, while bridesmaid Pippa Middleton may have a role after the big day


Meanwhile, Kate is understood to be considering asking her younger sister Pippa, 26, to be her lady-in-waiting once she is married. It has already been reported that Pippa is likely to be one of the bridesmaids, but Kate is hoping her sister’s involvement will extend beyond the big day.

Duties of a lady-in-waiting include responding to personal mail and travelling with the Royal party on official visits. Ladies-in-waiting are traditionally friends or relatives.

Last night, St James’s Palace said it was ‘too early to comment’ on the idea.

After they are married, William and Kate will share an office and diary secretaries but Kate will need her own right-hand woman.

‘The person she is closest to is Pippa,’ says a friend. ‘No one is suggesting Pippa would be a formal lady-in-waiting who would curtsy like the Queen’s aides do, but Kate will need someone to travel overseas with her and accompany her to events.

Pippa is the ideal choice, if it’s what she wants to do.’
Pippa, 27, recently launched an online magazine, The Party Times, under the umbrella of her parents’ company Party Pieces. She also works two days a week at London events company Table Talk.

Should Kate choose her sister as an aide, she will be following in the footsteps of both the Princess of Wales – who chose her sister Lady Sarah McCorquodale to accompany her on official engagements – and Camilla Parker Bowles whose sister Annabel helped her in the run-up to her big day.


* Prince Harry will be able to spend time with his brother before the wedding, as he is to be stationed at RAF Valley in Anglesey, where William is based, for two weeks in March. But there will be no wild cele¬brations as both will be flying, and banned from drinking for ten hours before taking the controls. However, Harry is said to be planning the ‘mother of all stags’ with their friend Guy Pelly, a nightclub owner.


Source:Dailymail