Confirmation lunch at InterCon for Pippa; Claudine at The Ivy
Someone mean once called Kate Middleton just a Diana Lite.
Be that as it may, while the Duchess of Cambridge Kate and her husband William, Duke of Cambridge, were in town recently, Kate’s sister Pippa had a light lunch in the Seasons restaurant of the InterContinental hotel in Ballsbridge, Dublin last Saturday afternoon.
Pippa, her husband James Matthews, and their young son Arthur were joined by friends for lunch. It is believed their friends’ son was celebrating his Confirmation. They were also spotted in the bar of the five-star hotel.
Staying in one of the top suites, Pippa and James and Arthur had breakfast on Sunday morning in the hotel’s restaurant before returning to England.
(The InterContinental General Manager Nicky Logue — who only recently returned from a quick break in New York with his beau Cathal — wished them well on their way home. He was introduced to one-and-a- half-year-old Arthur. “A charming young man,” said Nicky.)
Meanwhile, last Wednesday lady-in-red Vogue Williams — who is married to James’s older brother Spencer — was at the Cheltenham Festival. As was Chanelle McCoy and son Archie, along with Zara Tindall, the eldest granddaughter of Queen Elizabeth. Closer to home, our own social royalty of sorts Claudine Keane celebrated her birthday last Saturday night in the restaurant of the moment, The Ivy on Dawson Street with a gang of family and friends: among them Pippa O’Connor and Brian Ormond, Brian Dowling and Claudine’s brother Ronan and his wife Zoe.
Robbie Keane (Ireland and Middlesbrough assistant manager) flew into Dublin (straight after Middlesbrough beat Charlton last Saturday) and hosted pre-drinks in the Westbury hotel.
There was a birthday cake at The Ivy and afterwards they all went to 9 Below on Stephen’s Green for cocktails and Champagne where, I’m reliably informed, joy was unconfined until closing time. Is there any other kind of joy?