PIPPA MIDDLETON on wooing her fiance, the trials of being a royal in-law.

• Report rights infringement
• published: 20 Sep 2016
• views: 2

'I'm not the party girl people think I am': PIPPA MIDDLETON on wooing her fiance, the trials of being a royal in-law and the inspiration behind her new book in her first ever major interview. Pippa Middleton's engagement ring is impossible to ignore. It's enormous - a sumptuous three-carat diamond surrounded by 12 smaller stones. Every time she moves her hand and it catches the light, the effect is dazzling. We meet in a suite of a discreet hotel in the shadow of Kensington Palace where she has agreed to give her first major newspaper interview to talk about her new charity cookery book, Heartfelt, produced to raise money for the British Heart Foundation. But as she proudly shows off the magnificent sparkler, it is clear there is more than cooking on her mind. Her engagement to multi-millionaire financier James Matthews, 41, was revealed by the Mail in July. The ring was handmade to his specifications and the first time she saw it was when he proposed to her on bended knee on a romantic weekend away in the Lake District. A date has still not been set for next year's nuptials, but the presence of William and Kate will surely make it the wedding of the year - unless the couple are upstaged by Prince Harry or Princess Eugenie beating them to the altar. Today, sitting with her hands neatly folded in her lap Pippa radiates good health and newly engaged happiness. Instantly familiar as one of the most photographed women in the land, she is much prettier in the flesh. At 5ft 6ins she is 4in shorter than her older sister, and, at 33, 18 months younger. She is dressed down in a white collarless blouse from Joseph and a pair skinny dark blue chinos from upmarket fashion brand Massimo Dutti, set off with a pair of navy flats. Perched on the chair next to her is a £200 black tote from the luxury British brand Lamb. Her hair is different, too - while Kate's distinctive swishy brunette mane is her crowning glory, Pippa's hair is straighter, darker, and more under control. As is Pippa. Although friendly and humorous while talking about her new book she is nervous and hesitant when she fends off questions she feels are, as she puts it, 'out of bounds.' But just occasionally her dark eyes take on a steely glint when she speaks about the downside of life in the spotlight. 'I think we do exhaust most people,' she says, laughing loudly.