Pippa Middleton


Philippa Charlotte Middleton is an English socialite, author and columnist. The younger sister of the Duchess of Cambridge, she began receiving media attention with her appearance as the maid of honour at her sister's wedding to Prince William.

Early life

Pippa Middleton was born at Royal Berkshire Hospital in Reading, Berkshire, England. She is the second of three children born to Michael Middleton, a former British Airways flight dispatcher, and Carole Middleton, a former flight attendant. She was christened at St Andrew's Bradfield, Berkshire.

Education

In 1995, her family moved to Bucklebury, Berkshire. Like her sister, Middleton was first educated at St Andrew's School, a private boarding school in Pangbourne and then Downe House School, a girls' day and boarding school in Cold Ash. She was a boarder at Marlborough College, where she held a sports/all-rounder scholarship. Middleton then graduated from the University of Edinburgh with an English degree, where she shared a house with Lord Edward Innes-Ker, a son of the Duke of Roxburghe, and with Earl Percy, heir apparent of the Duke of Northumberland.

Career

Following her graduation, Middleton briefly worked in 2008 at a public relations firm promoting luxury products. She then had an events management job with Table Talk, a company based in London that organises corporate events and parties. In 2008, Tatler magazine named Middleton "the Number 1 Society Singleton", ahead of singer-songwriter James Blunt and Princess Eugenie of York, although in the same Tatler article she was described as someone who "goes to a lot of parties, but mainly as the caterer." Since then, she has often been described as a socialite. As part of a duo with her elder sister, Middleton has received wide press coverage, focusing on her social life and her lifestyle. In April 2012, Time magazine listed Middleton as one of the 100 most influential people in the world.
Middleton has worked part-time for her parents' company Party Pieces, editing the web magazine Party Times. Penguin Books paid Middleton a £400,000 advance for a book on party planning. The book, entitled Celebrate, was published in autumn 2012, and had lower than anticipated sales as many reviewers mocked it for the obviousness of its content. In March 2013, Middleton parted from her literary agent.
Middleton is also a regular columnist for several publications. She has contributed articles to The Spectator magazine since December 2012 and began having a food column in the supermarket magazine Waitrose Kitchen beginning in spring 2013. In June 2013 she was named a contributing editor of Vanity Fair writing a series of columns for the magazine. Beginning in September 2013, Middleton also wrote a fortnightly sports and social column for The Sunday Telegraph. She parted ways from The Telegraph in May 2014.
In May 2013, she became the sole director and shareholder of PXM Enterprises Limited. The company is headquartered at 19 Portland Place in London.
In September 2016, Middleton's iPhone was hacked. The Sun reported it had been approached by a hacker who claimed to have 3,000 images from Middleton's iCloud account and demanded £50,000 for them. The hacker was arrested that same month.

Royal wedding

The official announcement of her sister's engagement came on 16 November 2010. Pippa Middleton served as the maid of honour. At the wedding, Middleton's white figure-hugging dress, which, like the bride's, was created by Sarah Burton of Alexander McQueen, was highly praised in the media. Made of ivory crêpe fabric, it was styled with a cowl at the front and organza-covered buttons at the back. Copies of the dress were soon available on the High Street where there was a great demand for them.

Philanthropy

In April 2013, Middleton became an ambassador to the Mary Hare School for deaf children in Berkshire.
In June 2014, Middleton became an ambassador to the British Heart Foundation. That month, she took part in the Race Across America, a 3,000 mile cycling race across the United States, followed by the Bosphorus Cross-Continental Swimming Race, a 6.5 km swimming competition in Istanbul, as two fundraising opportunities for the BHF. Her bicycle was also auctioned on eBay for the BHF. She then attended the BHF's Roll out the Red Ball at the Park Lane Hotel on 10 February 2015. She auctioned one of her L.K.Bennett dresses at the ball. She took part in the London to Brighton Bike Ride for the BHF on 21 June 2015. In September 2015, Middleton participated in a 47-mile swim-run competition in Sweden alongside her brother and James Matthews to raise money for the Michael Matthews Foundation, a charity found in honour of James Matthew's brother who lost his life on a mountain climbing trek.
In September 2016, Middleton released her second book, Heartfelt, whose proceeds go to the British Heart Foundation.

Personal life

In July 2016, in the Lake District, Middleton became engaged to James Matthews, a former professional racing driver, now hedge fund manager. The couple married on 20 May 2017 at St Mark's Church, at Englefield Estate, Berkshire, near Bucklebury Manor, the Middleton family home. Her niece and nephew Princess Charlotte and Prince George of Cambridge were amongst the bride's attendants.
Matthews became a City of London trader in 1995 and in 2001 was co-founder of Eden Rock Capital Management, of which he is now chief executive. His father is Laird of Glen Affric, a 10,000 acre estate in Scotland. Matthews' inheritance of the lairdship will result in Middleton "acquiring" the courtesy title of Lady Glen Affric. Their son, Arthur Michael William, was born on 15 October 2018 at St Mary's Hospital, London.

Arms