Pippa Middleton thinks the furore over the toy gun waved at a photographer in Paris by the driver of a car she was in is all ‘a joke’ and a ‘very funny game’ according to Marcy de Soultrait, the brother of Viscount Arthur de Soultrait, the host of the wild Parisian party featuring dwarves and strippers at which Pippa was guest of honour hours before the incident took place.
"Pippa is a very good friend of mine and this gun affair is very silly. It was a children's toy that the driver had in his car. Pippa thought it was funny. It is fine in France to do that and the police are not investigating,” M de Soultrait, the dishevelled looking man who was previously pictured escorting Pippa across a Parisian boulevard in a blue shirt, told the London Daily Mail.
His spectacularly ill-judged comments were being greeted with dismay today at the HQ of his brother’s fashion brand, Vicomte A, where staff, who have been struggling to manage the crisis unfolding around them, told the Daily Beast that his comments did not represent the view of the company.
In further remarks which seemed calculated to produce as much patriotic outrage as possible in the UK, and are bound to inflame the sensitive situation even further, M de Soultrait added, ‘You English need to get over it. It was just a joke that has been blown out of all proportion. I have spoken with Pippa, she thinks this is all a joke and a funny game. We were just having a laugh. We are funny people, it's what we do.’
An Islamic terrorist, Mohammed Merah, used a .45 calibre Colt pistol to murder seven people in the south west of the country last month.
Meanwhile, the driver of the car has been named as Romain Rabillard by The Sun newspaper. The newspaper reported that the 36-year-old who pointed the toy gun at the pursuing paparazzi works for a US law firm, is a regular on the party circuit, and lives in a £2,000-a-month penthouse near his office on the Champs Elysees.
In party pictures seen by The Sun, Rabillard, 36, larks about with no trousers on while clutching a drink and staring wild-eyed at the lens. In another pose he hugs three pretty girls as one bites his face.
Rabillard, 36, represents German arms manufacturer Heckler & Koch in legal matters, and regularly meets representatives in France and Germany. The firm is well known for its range of USP semi-automatic pistols, which are used by the military, police forces, security firms and private individuals who need to defend themselves, reigniting speculation that the toy gun may indeed have been real.
Emails requesting comment to M Rabillard bounced back this morning, with a message that he was off work until April 26.
The Royalist has contacted official spokespersons for Shearman and Sterling, the American law firm based on the Champs Elysee which M Rabillard works for, but has yet to receive a reply
The Daily Telegraph is reporting that M Rabillard, 'is part of a fast-living set of Parisians who have grown close to Pippa in recent years', and quotes a friend saying, ‘Romain is a very hard working lawyer, but he absolutely loves to let his hair down, He’s always planning holidays and weekends away, and ends up being the life and soul of the party. Calling him a wild man would be about right.’
Meanwhile, it was claimed that Pippa was seen making out with Antoine de Tavernost at the party, after the couple ‘sneaked off to a quiet corner’ at the party.
Pippa and de Tavernost were photographed arriving at the party together, and they left together shortly after 2:30am, heading to late night restaurant Le Schmuck, in which de Tavernost, the son of a French TV executive, is a partner, before going to Regine nightclub.
New footage of the Bacchinalian party emerged. In one clip, 17 minutes into the tape, Pippa speaks to Marcy, saying, “I don’t mind doing pictures, but I don’t want to talk on camera.”
