It is not, of course, an actual royal wedding, but until Prince Harry answers the call of an impatient nation, it will have to do.



On Saturday, at St Mark’s church in Englefield, Berkshire, Pippa Middleton, a 33-year-old best known for her shapely posterior and well-connected sister, will marry James Matthews, a 41-year-old hedge fund manager best known for marrying Pippa Middleton.

As two private individuals, exchanging their vows in front of loved ones in an English village church on a summer’s day, their nuptials might seem outwardly unremarkable. But not every bride gets to “I do” in front of two future British kings, one of whom, at the princely age of three, seriously threatens to upstage her as he follows her down the aisle as pageboy.

Middleton may have decreed that she wished her wedding to be private, but as the younger sister of the Duchess of Cambridge, aunt of Prince George and Princess Charlotte and soon-to-be sister-in-law of I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here dropout Spencer Matthews, she should be so lucky.

Instead, the showbiz press have declared her happy day the “wedding of the year”, resulting in a steady stream of camera crews and long-lens photographers to the Middletons’ home village of Bucklebury to capture the lavish preparations.

The venue for the ‘wedding of the year’: St Mark’s church, Englefield. Photograph: Beretta/Sims/Rex/Shutterstock

Confirmed facts about the event may be scarce, but that has merely fed the speculation over every aspect of the biggest Middleton wedding since the last one, when big sister Kate married Prince William in 2011 and the younger Middleton shot to dubious global celebrity on account of how her backside looked in a dress.



On that occasion, 1,900 people were invited; Pippa’s guest list by contrast stretches to a mere 150, or a mere 350, depending on which well-placed source is talking to which newspaper.

Prince Harry is expected to attend the nuptials (he should particularly enjoy the rumoured drinks reception in Englefield House, which was used for the filming of I Wanna Marry Harry, the 2014 US TV series in which 12 women competed to win the hand of a lookalike they believed was the prince). But will Harry’s girlfriend, American actor Meghan Markle attend? The assumption is that she will, though speculation has settled on a scenario in which she misses the marriage but attends the evening reception, after Middleton, according to “friends”, supposedly instituted a “no ring, no bring” rule. On Saturday morning, it was Markle, rather than the bride, who earned the most column inches in weekend newspapers.

The bride will be dressed by Giles Deacon or Emilia Wickstead or Erdem, reports have speculated, and will carry hydrangeas or peonies in a red, white and blue theme – or alternatively, since that sounds highly unlikely, she will not.

The Duchess of Cambridge may be maid of honour, but probably won’t be. “Sources” are said to have hinted to the Sun that Middleton “will wear her hair in an up-do”.

What we do know is that the wedding is not being done on a budget. Days before the wedding, photographers captured the erection of a huge glass conservatory-style marquee in the garden of the Middletons’ home, priced by observers at £100,000. The Daily Mail has revealed photographs of what it claims are the luxury portable “throne rooms” where guests can relieve themselves, costing £6,000 according to an “industry insider”.

Princess Diana’s favourite party planner has organised the bash; the Beckhams’ former press representative is handling its PR. Documents reportedly filed with local aviation authorities suggest the wedding will be followed by a Spitfire flypast. Total assumed cost: somewhere approaching £300,000.

Middleton and Matthews at Wimbledon last summer. Photograph: Anthony Devlin/PA

The Middleton-Matthews love affair did not begin in the public eye, but has always been attended by luxury. The couple are said to have met in 2007, when the Middletons holidayed at Eden Rock, the Matthews family’s luxurious home in St Barths, and they dated briefly in 2012, rekindling their romance in 2015.

The two families have much in common, having risen from modest circumstances to great wealth and, ultimately, royal connections. Pippa’s maternal grandfather Ron Goldsmith was a lorry driver in Southall, west London, whose daughter Carole set up a party planning website with her ex-airline flight dispatcher husband that is now said to be worth £30m. James’s father, David, was a Rotherham mechanic who made a fortune dealing in second-hand cars before moving into property. The groom himself is said to have a net worth of £2.3bn after co-founding a capital management group.

Such colourful backgrounds mean an eclectic guest list. Besides Prince Harry and Markle, Spencer Matthews, the groom’s reality TV star brother, will be there, but has apparently been warned not to make rude jokes in front of the royals. So will James Middleton, the bride’s brother who now runs a marshmallow-printing business, and his girlfriend, former TV presenter and singer Donna Air. Others said to be coming include assorted schoolfriends of the couple, the bride’s party-loving uncle Gary Goldsmith, the TV presenter Ben Fogle and, for reasons that are unexplained, tennis player Roger Federer.

All of which, few would dispute, sounds like a party fit for almost-royalty.