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She was the breakout star of the 2012 royal wedding. But after struggling to be taken seriously as a writer, she married a millionaire hedge fund owner and has quietly disappeared from public view.
Pippa Middleton, remember her?
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The sister of Kate Middleton, who stole the show in a figure-hugging dress at the 2012 royal wedding and briefly became one of the most famous women on Earth, has almost completely vanished from British public life since her marriage to the multimillionaire hedge fund owner, James Matthews and the birth of their son, Arthur, in October last year.
She now lives a life of wealth and privilege, arguably even more desirable than her sister’s, based in Matthews’ palatial four-storey, five-bedroomed, double fronted Chelsea home.
She is largely focused on fundraising and philanthropy, although sources say she harbors intentions to revive her writing career and may soon resume her job as a columnist for the in-house magazine of the upscale supermarket Waitrose.
Pippa is most frequently seen in public these days pushing baby Arthur around upmarket Chelsea. Fellow residents of the expensive West London enclave are accustomed to encountering her clad either in expensive designer clothes and/or Lululemon gym wear.
Matthews spends his weekdays at the offices of his hedge fund, Eden Rock, based in a swanky office in nearby Mayfair. Weekends are often spent in the English countryside, with a roll call of elite friends or Pippa’s family.
Sources say that Pippa, James, William and Kate frequently meet during the winter at exclusive two-day shooting parties (both Pippa and Kate shoot) hosted by chums such as Arthur Balfour or fellow hedge fund millionaires.
The lucky few get invited back during the summer to shoot stag at James’ family’s 10,000-acre estate near Loch Ness in Scotland, Glen Affric.
William and Kate are frequent guests, as is Pippa’s mother. Indeed, Pippa’s brother, James, who has struggled to find his feet after a string of business disasters, actually lives there.
James has given up on life as an entrepreneur after his last business, Boomf, a bespoke marshmallow company, lost a reported $4m. After the breakdown of his long-term relationship with British TV presenter Donna Air, which went down the tubes at about the same time, he took a break from city life to work as a countryside guide and host at Glen Affric.
The estate, complete with James, can be rented for a mere $1700 per night and its website features several cheesy snaps of a bearded James posing in a deerstalker.
His Instagram feed is filled with images of him living a wholesome Scottish life, and pictures of his beloved dogs—he is an ambassador for the charity Pets as Therapy. In January, James also wrote a deeply moving article about suffering from clinical depression, which he described as a cancer of the mind, for the Daily Mail.
Pippa is believed to moonlight as an adviser to her husband’s luxury lifestyle brand, Eden Being, a joint venture between Eden Rock and The Oetker Collection of hotels.
Pippa always argued that she never sought fame but, having had fame thrust upon her by that bridesmaid dress, made a decision to capitalize on it.
Despite a questionable talent for penmanship (she once suggested that a big group of people could be served turkey as it was “perfect for feeding larger gatherings”), she had columns in Vanity Fair, the Daily Telegraph and sometimes wrote for the Daily Mail.
A book she wrote about entertaining, Celebrate, received a monster advance (and monstrous reviews to go with it).
Vanity Fair editor Graydon Carter was a huge fan of Pippa and enjoyed meeting her for gossipy dinners when he was in London. She sometimes functioned as Carter’s official arm candy at engagements in London, such as the opening of the Serpentine Gallery.
But the Vanity Fair gig fell away as the largesse of the Carter years came to an end, as did her columns in national newspapers, as critics mocked her style and questioned her credentials.
Since her wedding, Pippa and James have both undertaken a number of extreme sports challenges to raise money for charity, including marathon cross-country ski trips and bike rides.
Pippa has become an ambassador for the British Heart Foundation, a charity that funds research into all heart and circulatory diseases, and its Honorary Gala Chair.
Although it is not known what inspired Pippa to take on the role, she has spoken about “the heartbreak” that strokes and vascular dementia can cause. She also wrote a cookbook for the charity.
Sources who know Pippa say it’s not her style to quietly disappear, and predict she will soon return with a slate of new projects.
She did hang on to one last writing gig, penning a column for the glossy free magazine published by the British supermarket chain Waitrose, and although her last available columns online are old, a spokesperson for Waitrose said that she still works for the magazine.
This could be her way back into the publishing world.
In the run up to the birth of her baby, Pippa wrote about health and fitness during pregnancy and has reportedly been studying to be a qualified nutritionist.
Friends and acquaintances say she shares with her mother a fierce sense of ambition. There are longstanding rumors that she is working on a book about exercise and diet. Pippa Middleton will surely not stay out of the public eye forever.
