When Michael Middleton walks his daughter Pippa up the aisle on Saturday at her wedding to fiancé James Matthews, it will be his third time giving a bride away. Michael shared the spotlight with his elder daughter Kate when she said 'I do' to Prince William in 2011, but he was also given the all-important task in 2012. His services were called upon once again when he gave away bride Thierry Kelaart at St Bartholomew's Church in Oxfordshire in September 2012.
Thierry, a close family friend of the Middletons, was marrying long-term boyfriend Patrick Heathcoat-Amory, son of Sir Ian and Lady Heathcoat Amory of Calverleigh, Devon. Thierry, who was 29 at the time, studied history at the University of Edinburgh with Pippa, and asked her father Michael to give her away. Thierry's dad Paul Kelaart sadly passed away in 1992 when she was ten. The bride's mother Anne is a former High Sheriff of Oxfordshire and runs the family farm in the village of South Moreton, where the wedding reception was held.
Pippa Middleton will say 'I do' on Saturday
The whole Middleton family were in attendance, including Michael's wife Carole, his son James and daughter Pippa. Kate also attended without her husband Prince William, who was on duty at his RAF base. The Duchess of Cambridge looked stunning in a pale-grey Erdem dress, which she wore just months before at Trooping the Colour. Never one to upstage a bride, thrifty Kate often wears recycled outfits to friends' weddings.
In a few days' time, all eyes will be on Kate's sister Pippa as she marries fiancé James. The couple will exchange vows at the quaint country church St Mark's in Englefield, Berkshire. The reception will be held back at the Middletons' family home in nearby Bucklebury, where a large glass marquee has just been installed in the lavish gardens.