Public and press go crazy for Pippa
Bestman Prince Harry and Maid of Honour Pippa Middleton on the balcony at Buckingham Palace after the royal wedding (Getty Images)Rosie Dimano
Columnist
Saturday, April 30, 2011
LONDON—Her Royal Hotness, or When Harry Met Pippa.
Pippa — pardon, Philippa, as the Palace would have it — isn't royal, of course, merely younger sister to a newly Windsor-wedded older sister. And Harry has certainly met Pippa before, over the course of his brother's nine-year relationship with Kate.
But Hooray Harry's eyes were on poppy stalks Friday when he got a gander of his sister-in-law's sister at Westminster Abbey, chic and sexy in her slinky maid-of-honour frock. When Harry took Pippa's arm for the recessional, he told her: “You do look very beautiful today — seriously.''
And Prince H. apparently continued flirting with Pippa on the balcony whilst their siblings double-kissed for the crowd, although at one point elbowed out of the conversation by randy granddaddy, the Duke of Edinburgh, never one to let a fetching girl go by unremarked.
The Middletons are on a roll. Having just hit the jackpot with their eldest child, why not try rolling the dice again with their second daughter? It's hardly unusual for a maid of honour to hook up with the best man. ..?
Newspapers have already launched the matchmaking for them, with extensive coverage of Pippa's yumminess on Saturday and broad hints that Harry's on-and-off squeeze, Chelsy Davis, might have another rival to worry about, given her playboy beau's notoriously roving eye.
On her sister's big day, Pippa managed to pull off the delicate feat of not quite upstaging the bride whilst still making a huge splash.
Like the bridal gown, Pippa's dress was designed by Sarah Burton for Alexander McQueen and white. In her hair, worn half up and half down, was a sprig of lily of the valley. On her ears, diamonds from her parents.
The 27-year-old drew gasps of approval and envy, to say nothing of lusty awe from the Twitterati.
Former England cricketer Michael Vaughan tweeted: “Let's all pray for Harry ... Pray that he gets lucky tonight with Pippa.''
It was Pippa who dragged Kate out for club-hopping after William briefly broke off the romance in 2007, correctly predicting that her sister's prince would come back, especially after seeing her on the town rather than tending a broken heart at home.
In her official duties as bride's attendant, Pippa performed with efficient aplomb, straightening out Kate's three-metre train, holding the bridal bouquet when required, and shepherding the flower girls and pages as she sashayed down the aisle.
By profession an events planner, Pippa earned hugely approving ink for her wedding turn, a sharp change from snippy stories last week claiming the social-climbing upstart had made herself unpopular with royal aides at Buckingham Palace, making endless demands as co-planner for the Friday night “knees-up'' attended by 300 of William and Kate's closest friends and Prince Charles' pals.
It had been a few rough months for Pippa, as the famously bitchy royal press corps glommed onto her after demolishing her mother, Carole. Not that Pippa, graduate of Edinburgh University, has ever been a wallflower or media shy.
In 2008, she was named No. 1 Society Singleton by Tatler magazine: highly eligible with good connections. Friends believed she'd be the one to snag a rich husband.
To Harry's possible dismay, Pippa's already got a serious boyfriend in Alex Loudon, an Old Etonian professional cricketer turned banker. He, like Chelsy, was at the wedding.
For the evening soirée, Pippa wore a strapless emerald gown with midriff glitter embellishment. She was spotted returning to the Goring Hotel — her family's wedding weekend hangout — at 3 a.m. And Saturday morning, it was Pippa — in white jeans and blue short-cropped jacket — who was snapped silly as the family left.
A star — and paparazzi idol — has been born.
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