Don’t ban wedding hotties, Pippa – it’s how you got famous!
WHEN Pippa Middleton marries next month, she must be hoping that all eyes will again be on the most famous almost-royal rear in history as it wiggles down the aisle. She must be hoping to repeat her headline-grabbing performance as maid of honour at the royal wedding on April 29, 2011, that special day that will go down as the moment when the ‘eligible bachelorette’ (US networks) or ‘Chelsea Party girl’ (Tatler) or ‘Her Royal Hotness’ (everyone else) went supersonic.
This fairytale transformation took place in Westminster Abbey in front of a global audience of two billion but, as you will remember, it was all thanks to the astonishing indulgence of her elder sister. Kate somehow allowed little sis to wear a clinging white satin gown and process up the aisle with a gaggle of pages and bridesmaids, as if she was the star of the show.
Now, I have heard that Kate demanded that the seams of her sister’s Sarah Burton for Alexander McQueen dress be let out before the ceremony, so it wasn’t quite so figure-hugging, but if true, that didn’t work out. ‘Pippa’s Bum’ still began trending and had its own Instagram account before the service was over.
So isn’t it ironic that, six years later, a woman with such, er, cheeky form when it comes to upstaging the bride is said to be banning unattached girlfriends from her own wedding.
THE couple (ie, Pippa) is said to have decreed that it is ‘no ring, no bring’ when it comes to plus ones: a diktat that rules out reality TV star and model Vogue Williams, 31 – the current girlfriend of groom James Matthews’ brother, Spencer.
It also rules out the actress and activist Meghan Markle, who is Prince Harry’s steadier girlfriend.
Why oh why is she banning her celebrity future in-laws from bringing their stunning girlfriends, I wonder?
A tiny clue, like a stray rose petal, may be found in the wedding last month of Prince Harry’s ‘wingman’, Tom ‘Skippy’ Inskip, in Jamaica.
Hardly any pictures of the bride, Lara Someone-Someone, made it into the papers. It was all the loved-up Prince and Meghan in the Caribbean, jamming in their shades.
As for Vogue Williams – well, have you seen her? She was all over The Sun’s page three last Friday, kneeling on a beach, bright pink cozzie slashed to the navel. Exactly.
We can all see why the bride doesn’t want competition, but a tip for Pippa: a wedding is not all about you. It’s about uniting two families as much as two individuals. As the new BBC2 series Alone With The In-Laws reveals, it’s very important to get along with your other half’s family before two tribes become one.
Okay, Vogue may not be in vogue with Spencer for ever and a publicity-hungry ‘telly babe’, but she could equally be your future sister-in-law, as could Meghan.
On that basis alone, it’s probably not a great idea to exclude them from your wedding.
It looks small and, worse, it looks as if you’re worried that someone even younger and prettier than you will hog the limelight. But please don’t worry. When a scene-stealer gets married, it doesn’t automatically create a vacancy.
So send the stiffies out, Pippa – extend the same generous hand to all your future possible sistersin-law as your sister did to you.