Honeymoon phase: inside Pippa Middleton’s wedded bliss
Pippa Middleton and her new husband, James Matthews, on their wedding day in 2017. Photo: Getty
Although there have been no confirmed sightings of Pippa Middleton since she and new husband James Matthews transited through Los Angeles airport after their May 20 wedding, multiple accounts have them on a VIP escape to the French Polynesian island resort of Tetiaora.
“The Polynesian villa is everything people would expect—miles of white sand, beautiful scenery and 24-hour-a-day service from staff—and they’re staying there for a week,” a source told UK newspaper The Sun.
After that, according to speculation, the freshly-minted Mr and Mrs Matthews will spend a week at his cashed-up family’s Scottish estate before squeezing in a final or two at the French Open.
And that’s how to start married life, Middleton style.
But when things move on from the first heady days, what will Pippa’s post-honeymoon world look like?
She and multi-millionaire financier Matthews, 41, will be dumping their bags back at their $30 million starter home in London’s Chelsea, close to Pippa’s big sister Kate, who is now living full-time at Kensington Palace ahead of Prince George starting school in September.
That base is where Pippa—whose 2012 hostessing book Celebrate was widely-panned for celebrating the painfully obvious (“A really late start warrants brunch, in lieu of lunch”)— cooks roasted fish with lentils for her man.
After dinner, they like to crash on the sofa. “It’s nice to go out but it’s nicer to entertain at home,” Pippa, 33, told UK newspaper The Daily Mail last September.
Whether she’ll go back to professional work is unknown, but pre-wedding she was cycling five days a week to a rented office space where she wrote a column for a supermarket chain plus worked for charities including the British Heart Foundation.
“People seem to think I must have lots of support helping me,” said Middleton of her professional life. “But I don’t, it’s just me.”
Her charity work has seen the fitness fanatic cycle 4800km across the United States and climb the Matterhorn in Switzerland.
As a newlywed, she will almost certainly keep up her full-on physical regimen, particularly because Matthews is just as mad about the outdoors as she is.
As a couple, they finished a 75km swim/run in Sweden in 2015.
Their weekends often include dreaming up gruelling sporty pastimes, including triathlons and endurance skiing.
“We do exhaust most people,” she admitted in September. “We are both competitive. I don’t think it would work with a couch potato.”
Pippa and James will head to the French Open to catch up with good friends Roger and Mirka Federer (pictured here arrival at the wedding). Photo: Getty
That said, count on both being spectators at Wimbledon in the Royal box. Pippa has not just Windsor connections but is besties with Roger Federer, who played ping pong with princes William and Harry at her wedding.
And while she didn’t marry a prince like big sister Kate, Pippa will one day inherit a title.
Her father-in-law David Matthews became the Laird of Glen Affric in 2008 when he bought a 4046ha plot, complete with castle, near Loch Ness. Pippa is in line to be Lady of Glen Affric.
The crowning glory? The pair is looking forward to “having children,” said a source.