Pippa Middleton’s red hot Wimbledon debut in daring dress sister Kate ‘wouldn’t wear’

Pippa Middleton, just like her sister, the Princess of Wales, has always been a longtime tennis fan. The mother of three told Vanity Fair in 2013: “I first went to Wimbledon when I was eight years old and already a very keen tennis player.”

Recalling the first time she went to the All England Lawn Tennis & Croquet Club, she further remarked: “During this first trip, I acted on my childish tennis dreams and bought myself a postcard of the women’s championship trophy, on which I wrote, ‘I will win this one day,’ with my signature below.”

Pippa’s public debut at Wimbledon, mere months after her sister Kate married Prince William, came in 2011. Arriving with her then-boyfriend, Alex Loudon, Pippa looked happy and relaxed as she took her seat next to the former cricketer, wearing a resplendent red dress. 

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It came from luxury high street store Hobbs London, costing £129 at the time of purchase, but it quickly sold out after Pippa was seen in it.

This dress, which was designed in a shift shape, with capped sleeves and statement button detail, was quite the chic style, and the tomato red shade was bold and eye-catching. The playful, above-the-knee hemline offered a more relaxed silhouette than the modest, midi lengths the Princess of Wales typically favours for royal appearances.

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The royal hemline rule

Royal style rules dictate that working female royals should stay away from miniskirts and keep hemlines modest and respectable. 

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These rules have been subtly defied by some over the years, but Kate has stayed pretty loyal to this style expectation.

Pippa and Kate’s early Wimbledon memories

In the same Vanity Fair interview, Pippa recounted a time that she and Kate queued for cut-price Wimbledon tickets, recalling when she queued “from five a.m on ‘People’s Sunday’ in 2004 with my sister for three hours and getting £35 tickets on Centre Court; my first time ever,” she noted.

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“Seats were a free-for-all,” she remarked, “and I recall almost tripping over myself trying to get as close as possible to my birthday-twin British hero Tim Henman.”