PIPPA: THE PERILS OF BEING KATE’S SISTER
Her f irst ever interview
PIPPA MIDDLETON’S engagement ring is simply impossible to ignore. It’s enormous: a sumptuous three carat diamond surrounded by 12 smaller stones. Every time she moves her hand and it catches the light, the effect is dazzling. We meet in a suite of a discreet hotel in the shadow of Kensington Palace where she has agreed to give her first major newspaper interview to talk about her new charity cookery book, Heartfelt, produced to raise money for the British Heart Foundation. But as she proudly shows off the magnificent sparkler, it is clear there is more than cooking on her mind.
Her engagement to multi-millionaire financier James Matthews, 41, was revealed by the Daily Mail in July. The ring was handmade to his specifications and the first time she saw it was when he proposed to her on bended knee on a romantic weekend away in the Lake District.
A date has still not been set for next year’s nuptials, but the presence of William and Kate will surely make it the wedding of the year — unless the couple are upstaged by Prince Harry or Princess Eugenie beating them to the altar. Today, sitting with her hands neatly folded in her lap, Pippa radiates good health and newly engaged happiness.
Instantly familiar as one of the most photographed women in the land, she is much prettier in the flesh.
At 5ft 5½ in, she is 4½ in shorter than her older sister and, at 33, 18 months younger. She is dressed down in a white collarless blouse from Joseph and a pair of skinny dark blue chinos from upmarket fashion brand Massimo Dutti, set off with a pair of navy flats.
Perched on the chair next to her is a £200
black tote from the luxury British brand, Lamb.
her slim, shapely figure has won her admirers all over the world. a website devoted to her bottom, made famous by her contour-hugging bridesmaid’s dress at the Royal Wedding, had more than one million hits.
‘I was surprised and still don’t understand it,’ she says in a voice surprisingly less plummy than that of her sister.
her hair is different, too — while Kate’s distinctive swishy brunette mane is her crowning glory, Pippa’s hair is straighter, darker, and more under control. as is Pippa.
though friendly and humorous while talking about her new charity book, she is nervous and hesitant when she fends off questions she feels are, as she puts it, ‘out of bounds’.
But just occasionally her dark eyes take on a steely glint when she speaks about the downside of life in the spotlight.
to the casual observer, Pippa Middleton may have it all — a multi-millionaire fiance, access all (royal) areas courtesy of her sister Kate and a figure to die for — but if the Duchess of Cambridge has had to come to terms with being a member of the Queen’s family, then the adjustment for Pippa has been no less great as a royal in-law.
The flipside of her celebrity status has seen her the target of social media abuse and a drip, drip, drip of gossip that would destroy the most confident of social butterflies.
‘I have had a few years of being in the public eye and have developed something of a thick skin,’ she says.
‘But managing it all on my own has been hard. I have quite a lot thrown at me, such as being followed by people hiding behind cars and jumping out with cameras. It can be unnerving.’
Unlike her sister, she doesn’t have any media minders.
‘there’s always something cropping up and that has to be managed on my own. It’s been a real eye-opener for James. there have been quite a few hurdles to negotiate,’ she says.
It is something that also affects her parents, Carole and Mike.
‘I guess it’s become the new normal for us. It means there are factors we have to weigh up and think about, but we try not to let it affect us.
‘I try not to be too sensitive about things because it’s just a bit of life I have to deal with. But I would be lying if I said it didn’t affect me.’
She also hopes that her new book will help to change negative perceptions of her.
‘People see me as someone privileged who has used my position to advantage; that I don’t really work, that I am a socialite — that word really irritates me — and that I’m a party girl without any substance.’
the reality, she says, is different. She won a sports scholarship to secondary school, Marlborough College, and studied english literature at edinburgh University.
Nevertheless, her family have become firmly entrenched with the Royals.
Only last weekend, Carole and Mike were guests of the Queen at Balmoral. Mrs Middleton was seen being driven across the royal estate by the Queen at the wheel of a Range Rover.
this leads us to wonder why Pippa has decided to enter the publishing fray for a second time.
after all, four years ago, reaction to her party planning book, Celebrate, was grim. there was a critical panning and sales were poor.
Credibility, she says, was the issue — her own. She felt ‘she hadn’t earned the right’ to write such a book, which was ridiculed for being a list of obvious tips.
‘I believed in it and can’t blame anyone else, but maybe it might have been better if I had waited a bit longer before doing it.’
this time she has stuck rigidly to her core interests, food and fitness. Called heartfelt, the new book is really rather good.
there are more than 100 doable recipes and it has been written in collaboration with a very good cause — the British heart Foundation, for whom she’s been an ambassador since 2014.
Some of the sporting world’s great champions contribute their own meal ideas, including the Olympic medalwinning triathlon Brownlee brothers alistair and Jonny, and tennis great Roger Federer, who it turns out is an old friend. When she started working on the book a year ago, she was in the lucky position of not knowing anyone who had been affected by a heart condition.
But in July last year, her close friend Miles Frost, 31, died of a heart attack.
his father Sir David, the legendary broadcaster, also suffered from a genetic heart condition. he died in 2013 on the Cunard flagship the Queen elizabeth 2.
the night before their engagement was announced, Pippa and James went to a fundraiser for the British heart Foundation, which had been organised by the Frost family.
‘the death of Miles was a shock,’ she says. ‘I always thought a heart condition was something that happens later in life, but Miles was very healthy, very active. he did