The life and loves of Kate Middleton’s sexy sister became fodder for the tabloids in 2011. From an earl to an Astor to Prince Harry, follow the maid of honor and her male suitors.
It’s hard to believe that just 12 months ago Pippa Middleton, Kate’s little sister, was a virtual unknown, but after her scene-stealing turn at the royal wedding in April, all that changed. Pippa–and her delightful derrière–hit the headlines not least because of the crackling chemistry between her and William’s roguish younger brother, Prince Harry, as they walked from Westminster Abbey arm in arm. Harry repeatedly told Pippa, 27, how stunning she looked during his best man’s speech at the reception.
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But the rumors of romance were premature. In fact, it turned out, Pippa was dating England cricketer and financier Alex Loudon, an old Etonian and friend of Prince William’s. The couple had met at Edinburgh University, and reports began to filter out that the two had been planning to get engaged, but had put these plans on ice so as not to overshadow the royal nuptials.
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In May, tongues were set wagging when Pippa spent a weekend in Madrid with George Percy, the 26-year-old heir to the Duchy of Northumberland, who had previously dated Pippa while they were at university together.
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On June 4, Alex Loudon was not there to see Pippa compete in the Blenheim Triathlon. But a source told The Sunday Telegraph that rumors of a split were just “unsubstantiated gossip.”
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Later in June, however, more rumors began to emerge that all was not well in the Middleton/Loudon relationship, after Pippa was seen at a succession of events without her beau, including the wedding of old pal Sam Waley-Cohen. Speculation that Pippa had broken up with Loudon abounded, but friends of Pippa let it be known that the reason Alex and Pippa hadn’t been seen out and about together was because, as a member of brewer SABMiller's in-house corporate finance team, Loudon was in Australia assisting on the brewer's hostile $9.6 billion bid for Foster's lager.
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However, Percy and Pippa were spotted out and about together in London frequently over the summer, including at the Aegon tennis championships on June 9. The night before the tennis matches, Pippa and George enjoyed a three-hour dinner together at a London restaurant before returning to his flat (which George shares with another of Pippa’s exes, J.J. Jardine-Paterson). Pippa eventually left at 2 a.m.
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In the first week of July, Pippa invited Alex Loudon to join her and her family at the Wimbledon tennis championships, and it seemed everything was back on track.
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The couple was pictured together again at the Boodles Boxing charity ball in July. But during the event itself, Pippa was pictured dancing with another of her admirers, Charlie “Sharky” Astor of the celebrated Astor clan.
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Pippa was sighted increasingly on her own in London after she and Loudon had a “blazing and very public” argument at the wedding of Pippa's old Edinburgh University friend Humphrey Bowles in Whitby, North Yorkshire, in September. “Pippa had been on the dance floor without Alex all night, and he didn't appear happy. They could clearly be heard arguing hammer and tongs,” a source told The Daily Mail. Alex was reported to have told Pippa he loved her, but could no longer handle the “circus” that accompanied her every move.
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Pippa, however, continued her high-profile life, appearing at Tiffany’s ice skating rink on Nov. 21. There was a mini-controversy after it was revealed she had accepted a “silver charm” valued at £140 from the company.
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The final nail in the coffin for the relationship appears to be when Pippa inked a $600,000 deal to write a book about party planning for publisher Michael Joseph, an imprint of Penguin. The project clearly didn’t fit with Loudon’s plans for a low-key lifestyle, and the couple split.
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Pippa spent the first weekend after her split with William and Kate at Balmoral.
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The second weekend was spent with … George Percy. Pippa went grouse shooting on George’s private grouse moor. The following Monday, the two were pictured arriving in London by train. After the ensuing publicity, Pippa was reportedly ordered by Clarence House to keep a low profile during the party season, and canceled a scheduled appearance at the City’s Square Mile ball.
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On Friday last week, Pippa was spotted dining with J.J. Jardine-Paterson at the Crown Hotel in Suffolk before the wedding of friends nearby the following day.
Amazingly Pippa and Harry were pictured together in Central London openly flirting with each other. Unbelievable? Right. The pictures were staged with lookalikes by artist Alison Jackson.
The girl gets around! Here, Pippa is pictured in the same outfit with two different male companions on her arm during her year in the spotlight.
