MAY 2017 49
The happy couple
at Wimbledon last
year. Pippa once
said she’d like to
be married in her
tennis whites –
“shorts with no
pleats or frills”.classes. “It’s always preferable to get married at
home, as long as one has a large and flat-enough
lawn for a marquee,” she says. “It’s quite sensible
of Pippa to be having her wedding reception at
home because that way they can keep it
completely private.”
With seven hectares of land and a sweeping
gravel drive which leads from a winding country
road to the property, the manor is private and
spacious. The Cambridges are regular guests and
security measures are already in place for when
they visit. There is no public access to the
property, which is
surrounded by tall trees
and is extremely difficult
to photograph.
Among the VIP guests,
who will be asked not to use
their mobile phones on the
day, will be tennis champion
Roger Federer and his wife,
Mirka, who are close to the
Middleton family, and UK
TV presenter Ben Fogle
and his wife, Marina.
Pippa’s close friend George
Percy, son of the Duke of
Northumberland, Reading
Football boss Sir John
Madejski, and brother
James Middleton’s girlfriend,
Donna Air, have also been
invited. It will be the first
time Donna has joined the
Middletons for a formal
occasion and she will be
seated with James at one
of the top tables.
English tennis star Tim
Henman’s parents, Tony and
Jane Henman, who are close
friends of the Middletons,
have alsobeen invited, along
with many of their friends
from Mustique, where the
family holidays annually,
who were guests at the royal
wedding as well.
Pippa and James’ wedding
is also being seen as an opportunity to heal family
rifts. The groom is reported to have asked his
27-year-old brother Spencer Matthews – who
starred in the reality TV seriesMade in Chelsea
and once admitted to being on steroids – to be
best man, while Pippa has invited her uncle
Gary Goldsmith to the wedding and asked his
daughter, Tallulah, to be a bridesmaid. Carole fell
out with her brother after the now defunctNews
of the Worldnewspaper exposed Gary’s hedonistic
lifestyle in Ibiza where he owned a home called
“La Maison de Bang Bang” and where William
and Kate stayed before they were married.
“He is absolutely delighted to be going as he
is very fond of his nieces and nephew,” says a
source close to Gary. “It’s lovely that Pippa has
asked her cousin to be a bridesmaid and it’s
typically inclusive of her.”
When Pippa walks up the aisle it will,
according to those in the know, be in a very
different dress to the one she
wore on her sister’s wedding
day. The figure-hugging
Alexander McQueen
bridesmaid gown she wore in
2011 turned Pippa into an
overnight sensation, with the
media crowning her “Her
Royal Hotness” and focusing
on her toned derrière.
Friends say Pippa, who
once claimed she’d like
to get married in tennis
whites, wants a more classic
and conservative wedding
dress, with a fuller skirt, and
may opt for a flower garland
in her hair instead of a tiara
or veil. Shortly before
Christmas, British designer
Giles Deacon was seen
leaving the Middletons’
family home carrying an
oversized dress bag, fuelling
rumours he has designed the
dress. The designer is known
for his über-glam creations
and cites Yves Saint Laurent
and Chanel as inspirations.
“Pippa was rather
surprised by all the fuss
that she inadvertently
generated at her sister’s
wedding,” explains a friend.
“She actually has very simple
tastes and is determined that
people should be looking at
her happy face and not her bottom when she is
married. She has chosen what she says is a very
classic dress, but wants it to be a surprise.”
In that case, she should definitely ask Kate –
who kept her dress a secret until the last minute- for advice.AW W
Katie Nicholl is the author ofKate: The Future Queen.“Pippa and James’
wedding is being seen
as an opportunity
to heal family rifts.”