Keith Girard
Pippa Middleton looks like she’s found her prince, or make that Earl. While America is enthralled by the antics Downtown Abbey’s fictional aristocracy, the future English queen’s sister is living it.
She’s reportedly fallen hard for George Percy, heir to the title, Duke of Northumberland.
He makes the Crawleys of Downton look thoroughly middle-class. His family owns a $500-million estate that includes towering Alnwick Castle.
Harry Potter fans will recognize it as Hogwarts School. The castle was used as a backdrop in all the Potter films. “George is very smitten and completely in love with her,” a source told London’s Sun tabloid.
Pippa has bounced back and forth between Percy, 27, and cricket playing banker boyfriend Alex Loudon. She met Percy while they both were students at Edinburgh University. They rekindled their romance at the Middleton family New Year’s Eve party.
“Pippa sat herself next to George at supper and made sure she was hanging off his arm all night,” according to the Sun. “And then she made her move. It was like a shark circling its bait.”
The property has been described as Britain’s richest and grandest dukedom. The Duchy of Northumberland is steeped in British History, going back more than 1,000 years.
Alnwick Castle is known as the “Windsor of the North” and the estate incudes more than 100,000 acres. The only drawback is its location in the far north. But the family has London residences as well.
Percy’s father, Peter, the 12th Duke, and mother Jane are suitably idle aristocrats. Percy gets almost $500,000 a year from a family trust. But he owns his own company that’s drilling its first geothermal well to produce electricity.
If they marry, it would mark Pippa’s entre into royalty along with her sister Kate Middleton, who married Prince William. Lady Mary Crawley could take a few pointers for sure.