Meet the Middletons: Everything you need to know about Pippa's parents, brother James and naughty uncle Gary
The last time she walked down an aisle wearing a white dress, the entire world was watching. But when Pippa Middleton gets married on Saturday in Berkshire it will be a rather more private (though by all accounts no less lavish) affair.
As she ties the knot in the tiny 12th century church in Englefield, just a couple of miles from her parents' home, it will be in front of a somewhat smaller congregation than the one assembled in Westminster Abbey in 2011.
Looking on proudly will be with her two siblings, James and Catherine (who is said to be doing a reading) and her parents Michael and Carole. Even her raucous uncle Gary will be there, with his daughter Tallulah thought to be one of the bridesmaids.
Ahead of the society wedding of the year, here's a reminder of who's who in the Middleton clan.
Pippa
She once said of the instant fame she received after the marriage of her sister: "It is a bit startling to achieve global recognition (if that’s the right word) on account of your sister, your brother-in-law and your bottom." And on Saturday, all eyes will once again be on the woman whose life has changed so much since the last time she wore a floor length white dress.
Since that day in 2011, Pippa Middleton has been pursued by paparazzi everywhere she goes, had every outfit scrutinised, and every boyfriend pulled apart in the press.
But despite the downsides to her notoriety, 33-year-old Pippa has also used her renown to publish a book of classic party ideas and recipes which came with an advance of £400,000, has been a contributing editor of Vanity Fair (writing a series of columns for the magazine) and also wrote a fortnightly sports and social column for The Sunday Telegraph.
She is very sporty and is a keen skiier, recently indulging in a secret skiing hen do with her bridal party, including sister Kate (not thought to be maid of honour this weekend). Reports claim the group were "totally spoiled", so one can only imagine how much the entire shindig cost.
Pippa Middleton and James Matthews prepare to marry: in pictures
Her wedding to hedge fun manager James Matthews this weekend will mean she will eventually inherit the title Lady Glen Affric.
He reportedly caught her off guard with the proposal, which came less than a year into their relationship. The engagement ring is estimated to have cost £200,000.
It is estimated the society ceremony of the year will cost £250,000 – ten times the UK average - with 350 guests said to have been invited.
Catherine
Catherine's choice of university boyfriend rather put paid to the normal middle class country life the Middletons had been used to.
The eldest of the Middleton siblings married the second in line to the throne at Westminster Abbey in 2011, eight years after they had begun dating while at university at St Andrews.
But despite her royal title, it was to her parents' house in Bucklebury where the Duchess whisked her newborn baby two years later, after presenting the future king to the world outside St Mary's Hospital.
Her children, Prince George and Princess Charlotte will be page boy and bridesmaid this weekend at her sister's wedding, with Catherine thought not to be playing a role in the wedding, as traditionally, married woman would not have been bridesmaids. Instead, it is thought the Duchess of Cambridge may give a reading at the church in Englefield.
A look back at royal bridesmaids and pageboys
James
The youngest Middleton sibling, James has said he has always been "Pippa and Catherine's little brother". "It's probably going to be the story of my life."
Since his oldest sister's royal wedding, there has been the promotion – and then failure – of his cake businesses, The Cake Kit Company and Nice Cakes (and Nice Wine), which he set up after he dropped out of Edinburgh University.
Now there is Boomf – the bespoke marshmallow company with a Dragon for a chairman (Nick Jenkins, the multimillionaire founder of Moonpig, the online greeting card company).
But Boomf was reported to have lost £930,010 last year, based on abbreviated accounts filed with Companies House, though James said in an interview with the Daily Mail last year that the company was set to break even in the following year.
He was reported to have split up with girlfriend of four years the actress Donna Air last year, but later confirmed in an interview that the couple were back together. "I can’t say everything that is happening with us,’ he said. ‘We are thinking about where we are going next."
Carole
Carole Middleton's upbringing couldn't have been more different to the one she was able to give her own children.
The daughter of a builder, Carole grew up in a council house in Southall and attended local state schools, had a Saturday job at C&A throughout her teenage years and after leaving school got a job as an air hostess with British Airways.
It was there she met and fell in love with flight dispatcher Michael Middleton, whom she married in 1980 at Dorney Court, a Tudor mansion in Buckinghamshire.
Her brother Gary described it as a "natural, informal and classy" affair. "The house had a minstrel’s gallery and people wandered around with champagne flowing and canapés," he told the Daily Mail.
She worked as a flight attendant right up until the later stages of her pregnancy with Catherine. It was when searching for a way to earn an income which wouldn't take her away from home that Party Pieces was born.
The company has now mushroomed from a mail order business into a website specializing in novelty party goods with hundreds of thousands of customers each month.
Those who know Mrs Middleton describe her as warm, motherly and a devoted grandmother – fun-loving enough to be the last one on the dancefloor at a wedding, but also a hard worker, who built up a multi-million pound firm which all started at her kitchen table in Bucklebury.
Michael
Michael Middleton is the Leeds-born son of an airline pilot, who was working as an air steward for British Airways when he met his future wife Carole Goldsmith in the mid-1970s.
Despite inheriting a comfortable amount of money via his paternal grandmother, the couple made a huge success of their business, allowing them to send all three children to public school (Kate, Pippa and James all attended Malborough College) and own expensive property in Berkshire and London.
He looked nervous while walking his eldest daughter down the aisle at Westminster Abbey in 2011, but then again it was a very long aisle, and the entire affair was being captured on camera.
Escorting his youngest daughter, Pippa, down the aisle of the tiny 12th century church in Englefield on Saturday will presumably prove a less daunting task.
Uncle Gary
If anyone among the Middleton clan can be relied upon to be the cause of gossip at the wedding this weekend, it's Gary Goldsmith.
Younger brother to Carole, he is the self-made IT recruitment millionaire and all round "lovable rogue" of an uncle to the Middleton siblings.
The most controversial member of the family, he has, in the years since they were catapulted into the public eye, made several gigantic faux pas, including giving a 16-page interview to Hello! Magazine describing Catherine and William's stay at his home in Ibiza.
He reportedly spends six months of the year at his infamous, crudely named Ibiza house La Maison de Bang Bang, where he was once filmed giving hard drugs to an undercover reporter from the News of the World.
Goldsmith bragged about a holiday Prince William and his niece had taken at his villa before 'chopping' up lines of cocaine and offering to set the journalist up with high-class prostitutes.
After many years being on decidedly shaky ground with his family after embarrassing them time after time in the press, the rift with Uncle Gary is said to have healed and he is fully expected to attend his niece's wedding this weekend. His daughter Tallulah is even thought to be a bridesmaid.
"I love Restaurants and Grey Goose + golf/dogs," he says on his Twitter bio, describing himself as a "Dad/Husband/Chum/Pirate. Always Happy except when I'm not".
Pippa Vs Kate Pippa Middleton grid
