If every generation of the Royal family needs one wild card to liven it up, then the present lot has found its saviour in Pippa Middleton, who now joins the long list of men and women (including Princess Diana) who have managed to kick up a scandalous storm despite the fastidiousness required from those who are “connected” to the Crown. The dubious recognition that she is “influential” has also been bestowed upon her by the Time magazine, and some time ago she even received 400,000 pounds as advance for her soon-to-be-published book on party capers, Celebrate.
Partying is something Pippa does very well. Indeed, it has been a family business for a while, as her parents run a company, which supplies the accessories for a successful bash. Despite frowns from some sections of the media, they cashed in on the royal wedding by designing material that could be used by commoners to commemorate the event. In short, the Middletons are not a shy and retiring family, and certainly Pippa has no desire to be demure like her sister, Princess Catherine, who apparently now spends her life only wearing beautiful dresses to worthy events. Or hanging on to the arm of her toothy Prince, who seems to be a pleasant, if slightly dull bloke, just like his father.
The recent photographs of a party Pippa attended in Paris shows that she has quite the opposite intentions than those of her sister Catherine. She was invited to Paris to attend the 30th birthday of a French fashion entrepreneur, Vicomte Arthur de Soultrait, which was held at the Theatre St Germain in Paris, “an up-market restaurant and nightclub” according to media reports. Obviously, the party was designed to be deliberately debauched so that it could grab the headlines, especially across the channel, as the sister of the Duchess of Cambridge was attending it.
The “scandalous” event — photographs of which tabloids have happily spread out whilst clucking their tongues sanctimoniously — featured erotic dancers jumping out of cakes and even a female performer using an angle grinder on a metal chastity belt. As the Daily Mail noted wryly “sparks flew”, other highlights featured Vicomte de Soultrait being yanked along by a dog collar and chain, and everyone costumed as though they had stepped out of 17th-century France, with ruffles, tights, silk coats and, of course, low-cut gowns, with everything popping out. Pippa was a little more discreet and only wore a garish top covered with hideous pink ribbons.
But it wasn’t the Gallic gall which has upset the British royal watchers or even the loud and louche events of that evening. It was actually the fact that when Pippa was being dropped off at the Eurostar to catch the train back home, around 6 am, her host jokingly pulled out a toy gun to “shoot” the paparazzi which was hot on their stockinged heels. These images of make-believe violence evoked rather disturbing memories of what happened during Princess Diana’s last few hours in Paris. But when one is high on the drug of newfound fame (even though it is only reflected royal glory) much of these considerations are
forgotten.
One wonders how long the foolish fascination with Pippa’s partying will last. Or is it something the media is rather cynically using to sell copies, and the canny 28-year-old is equally cynically using for self-promotion? A case of mutual gratification — at least till her book is published.

Meanwhile, the Queen’s diamond jubilee celebrations are now rolling out, and among the many events planned over the summer is a picnic at the palace gardens for which 10,000 lucky people have won a lottery. The highlight of that evening will be a Heston Blumenthal hamper given to each one to enjoy before a concert which features Stevie Wonder, Paul McCartney, Elton John and Kylie Minogue. The event is still a month away but in true British fashion the excitement over the menu has begun. There is no chemical concoction though from Blumenthal, who is well-known for his unconventional culinary skills. This time he has designed a more traditional menu possibly keeping the taste of the attendant royalists in mind, from a starter of chilled British baby plum tomato soup to a dessert of strawberry crumble crunch. But there will be, nonetheless, a touch of India in the main course, which includes a “Diamond Jubilee Chicken”, which is a reinvention of the “coronation” chicken originally created for the Queen’s accession in 1953. And this, it seems was based on the jubilee chicken which was served at George V’s silver jubilee, celebrated in 1935. It has been described as “an aromatic blend of Indian spices mixed with mayonnaise, tender shredded chicken and fragrant coriander finished with peppery nigella seeds”. Sounds good, and since this is another version of the curry flavoured coronation chicken, it is obviously a not-so-subtle nod towards the British love of curry! Or is it simply a case of Blumenthal currying flavours with the Queen… (Terrible pun, but I couldn’t resist it!)

Finally, another scandal. But this time, it’s historical. The importance of archives has just come to light, with public access to a bunch of top-secret Foreign Office papers, which had been hidden for the last 50 years because they dealt with some of the most shameful episodes from the days of the empire. They also, ironically, reveal how, if the colonial authorities had their way, US President Barack Obama might have never been born. From the documents it is clear that Nairobi-based British administrators were highly critical of the fact that Kenyans like Mr Obama’s father had been given scholarships to study abroad… saying that students like him were “academically inferior” to those who stayed behind. But they had mistakenly let him go… Of course, had Obama Senior not gone to Hawaii to study business administration and met a white American, Ann Dunham, who was studying Russian, contemporary American history might never have been the same. Thank god for the “blunders” of our erstwhile colonial rulers.

The writer’s new novel, Origins of Love, will be published in May.
She can be contacted at kishwardesai@yahoo.com