After a full three months of unrestrained singledom—in which time she has not, in fact, been dating Prince Harry—Pippa Middleton is once again back off the market.
The socialite sister of Kate Middleton, whose figure-hugging McQueen gown came close to stealing the show at the Royal wedding almost four years ago, is believed to have rekindled a former romance with old flame and Old Etonian James Matthews, a City of London financier whose younger brother Spencer is the (so cheesy he pongs) star of the British reality show Made in Chelsea, which focuses on London’s young rich.
The boys’ parents are enormously wealthy and own the Eden Rock hotel on St Barts.
And in fact, Pippa may not even have been single for as much as three months as the Daily Mail is reporting today that Pippa and James have already been seeing each other for two months!
The paper quoted a source who claimed, “James is really into Pippa and she is falling into step. There is affection between them.”
The Mail said that the couple had recently spent a week on St Barts, and “spent an idyllic week together at the villa, playing tennis and enjoying dinner at the best restaurants on the island.”
The paper reports that Pippa and James saw in the New Year at Leo Di Caprio’s party on the island.
James and Pippa did date briefly in 2012 but Pippa then started going out with Nico Jackson, another City boy, and that relationship only ended late last year.
Nico had moved to Geneva, partly to avoid press attention on his and Pippa’s relationship, but friends said the pressure of a long-distance relationship was too much for the couple and they struggled to make it work.
After her split with Nico, Pippa was spotted going into James’s house on several occasions, and walking his dog.
Prior to Nico, her most serious relationship was with former England cricketer Alex Loudon, whom Pippa dated after leaving university. They broke up after the Royal wedding, amidst reports that he found Pippa’s pursuit of stardom irritating.
At University Pippa briefly dated Earl George Percy, one of the richest young aristocrats in Britain, and the couple were briefly linked again in 2011 after she and Loudon split.
There may be signs that James is taking things seriously. The diarist Sebastian Shakespeare reported just yesterday that Matthews is seeking planning permission to build a larger bathroom at his £17m London home—including two dressing rooms and a double vanity unit.
Get your feet under the table, Pippa, we say.
