Pippa Middleton may be best recognized as the sister of the Princess of Wales, but her social network extends well beyond royal circles.

In late 2015, Pippa began dating James Matthews, a hedge fund manager whose brother Spencer Matthews started a relationship with Irish model Vogue Williams in January 2017.

Despite the close relationship between the Matthews siblings, Vogue was notably absent from Pippa and James’s wedding invitation list that summer. Reports attributed this to Pippa’s strict “no ring, no bring” policy for the event.

By December, the couples were spotted enjoying a luxurious getaway to St Barts, where Pippa and Vogue were photographed cheerfully running along the beach together.

However, rumors of tension between Pippa and Vogue began to circulate, fueled by their differing public personas—Pippa’s understated elegance contrasting with Vogue’s celeb lifestyle.

Since then, the two have not been seen vacationing or socializing together in public.

One insider previously told the Daily Mail’s Katie Hind: ‘She and Pippa are very different, as are James and Spencer. You can’t help but wonder what conversations go on between Pippa and her family about Vogue.

‘You wonder what they would talk about. If you were Pippa, you’d think Vogue was a bit tacky. They are totally different people but forced together through marrying their husbands.’ 

But now, however, it seems that Pippa may be more similar to her socialite sister-in-law than she cares to admit. 

Described by neighbours as ‘inconsiderate’, ‘snooty’ and a ‘diva’ who is ‘nouveau riche’, Pippa and her billionaire husband have now become the centre of a heated row in their idyllic Berkshire village.

It seems that Pippa Middleton, right, may be more similar to her socialite sister-in-law Vogue Williams, left, than she cares to admit 

In December 2018, Vogue and Pippa enjoyed a trip to St Barts with their respective husbands and were captured beaming as they ran along the sand side-by-side

The subject of such ire is a lane which runs through the Matthewses’ 145-acre estate in the picturesque setting of Kintbury, a historic parish on the River Kennet. 

The couple share three children, Arthur, seven, Grace, five, and Rose, three, and have lived in the Grade II-listed Barton Court, a £15million, 32-room mansion formerly owned by the late designer Sir Terence Conran, since 2022. 

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Shortly after their arrival, they erected a set of electric gates, controlled by a keypad and accompanied by signs reading ‘private’ and ‘no entry’, across a section of Mill Lane, a concreted track which – they claim – is part of the long, winding driveway to their home.

But Kintbury residents beg to differ, arguing that Mill Lane has always been a public right of way, which they have used regularly as a footpath since at least the sixties.

By closing it off, locals claim they are being forced to take an alternative route along a road frequented by HGVs and delivery drivers, with no pavement to walk on safely.

Nick Edwards, 65, a financial consultant, told The Daily Telegraph: ‘I think arrogant is probably [the word]… they’re not that important, they’re not royalty. 

‘The fact that Pippa is Kate’s sister is neither here nor there…it all comes across as a bit nouveau riche.’

Meanwhile, another frustrated local told the Daily Mail: ‘They’re not even the proper Royal Family.’

A representative of the Matthews family said the route in question had only been ‘reasonably alleged’ to be a footpath, not formally designated one by West Berkshire Council. 

They also disputed the name given to the path, Mill Lane, which they claim does not appear in local records.

The spokesman said the council will be adopting a ‘neutral stance’ at the forthcoming meeting.

A local said of James Matthews and Pippa: ‘I think arrogant is probably [the word]… they’re not that important, they’re not royalty’

Despite the Matthews brothers’ close bond, Vogue was refused an invitation to Pippa and James’s wedding on May 20, 2017

While there remains an insatiable amount of public interest in Pippa and James’s private lives, the pair have often tried to remain rather low-key.

However, this is not the first time that the word ‘diva’ has been used to describe the sister of Britain’s future Queen.

There was the time she instructed lawyers to act against ‘Pippatips’, the parody social media account mocking her 2012 party-planning book, Celebrate – in which, among other things, she recommended readers use ice cubes to keep their drinks cold. 

And she is also said to have taken on a more ‘calculated social ascent’ than her sister, according to royal author Tina Brown.

Writing in her book, The Palace Papers, Ms Brown revealed that during Pippa’s time as a student studying English Literature at Edinburgh University, ‘she was assiduous about joining the right social circle’, according to a former student.

‘She was very charming about it, but quite ruthless in cultivating the “right” friends.’

Known as the so-called ‘castle crew’ of heirs to land, large fortunes and stately homes, Pippa was, indeed, sharing a house with Lord Edward Innes-Ker, son of the Duke of Roxburghe, and Earl Percy, heir to the Dukedom of Northumberland.

Not only this, but the Middleton family famously come from a wealthy, upper-middle-class lifestyle, with Kate and Pippa’s parents, Carole and Michael, insistent on sharing the cost of the Prince and Princess of Wales’ Royal Wedding with the Queen and Prince Charles.

The Middletons’ slice was said to come to an estimated total of £250,000, while Carole and Michael even booked out the whole of the lavish Goring hotel in London’s Belgravia for friends and family to enjoy ahead of the wedding. 

Carole and Michael’s wealth was predominantly attributed to the overwhelming success of their business Party Pieces, a mail-order party supply company they founded in 1987 after finding limited options while trying to organise Kate’s fifth birthday party.

Their incredible success saw a life of luxury possible for their two daughters, with Pippa and Kate attending several prestigious private schools, including the famous Marlborough College. 

But it was her older sister’s decision to marry Britain’s future King, Prince William, that ultimately saw Pippa thrust into the limelight.

Pippa, who served as the maid of honour at the Royal Wedding, saw her Alexander McQueen dress commented upon around the globe. 

In 2012, it was announced Pippa had landed a deal from publishing house Penguin worth £400,000 for a book on party planning.

In the foreword, Pippa wrote: ‘It’s a bit startling to achieve global recognition before the age of 30 on account of your sister, your brother-in-law and your bottom.

‘One day I might be able to make sense of this.

‘I certainly have opportunities many can only dream of. But in most ways, I’m a typical girl in her twenties trying to forge a career and represent herself in what can sometimes seem rather strange circumstances.’

But, her party planning book, Celebrate, was not well received and sales were poor.

In 2012, it was reported that NBC would offer Pippa $600,000 to be a royal correspondent, but this was denied by the network.

She started a food column in the supermarket magazine Waitrose Kitchen beginning in the spring of 2013. In June of that year, she was named a contributing editor of Vanity Fair and wrote a series of columns for the magazine.

Pippa also began writing a fortnightly sports and social column for The Sunday Telegraph.

By 2016, it was reported Pippa had been ‘quietly and diplomatically reined in’ by Prince William, who was understood to have been advising her on her future role.

The now Prince of Wales was said to be aware that commercial ventures associated with the Royal Family, including Pippa’s projects, might bring difficulties of their own.

A friend of Pippa said at the time: ‘It was felt by William in particular that she needed some guidance and support.

‘It was felt something needed to be done. So Pippa has been quietly and diplomatically reined in.’

Calculated changes brought Pippa’s life as a media personality to a close, steadily replacing it with one based on charity fundraising.

She is now an ambassador for the British Heart Foundation, Disability Snowsport UK and the Mary Hare School for deaf children.