Battle of the superhomes

LOCATION is crucial for the wedding of the year and with some fantastic properties between the two families, Pippa and James were spoilt for choice. Would it be the Matthews-owned Eden Rock hotel on St Barts in the Caribbean? Nope.

Pippa has opted for a picturesque country church on the private Englefield Estate in Berkshire, owned by Tory MP Richard Benyon. The Middleton family pile, right, is a Grade II-listed £5million Georgian manor house only a few minutes away.

The seven-bedroom mansion, set in 18 acres of parkland with stunning gardens and views across the Pang Valley, has a tennis court and swimming pool. The family also own a smart Chelsea apartment.

Jane and Dave Matthews used to own 30-acre Caunton Manor outside Grantham, Lincolnshire. The 18th-Century Georgian country house had a dancefloor that converted into a swimming

pool at the touch of a button, and a go-kart track.

These days, they flit between a stunning apartment in the tax-free millionaires’ playground of Monaco and St Barts. Built 50 years ago by adventurer Remy de Haenen, Eden Rock, above, is one of the world’s most exclusive hideaways for celebrities and oligarchs. In the 1950s and 1960s it was a favoured haunt of Hollywood A-listers such as Greta Garbo and Brigitte Bardot, as well as tycoon Howard Hughes and the Rothschild and Rockefeller families. These days, it hosts Roman Abramovich, Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt.

In 2008, the family bought the Glen Affric Estate in Inverness-shire, with 10,000 acres. It has Eden Rock standards of luxury – with lodge and cottage rentals from £900 a night.