Pippa Middleton’s topless photo scandal

During the royal wedding, one body part transformed Kate’s sister into a star — but it was another part of her anatomy that created the biggest furore.

When Kate Middleton stepped out of a royal limousine in front of Westminster Abbey in 2011, the world gasped as it caught its first sight of Britain’s future Queen clad in a lacy confection of an Alexander McQueen dress.

And then, the billions of people tuning in clapped eyes on her sister, Pippa. Also wearing white McQueen, the then 27-year-old made an immediate impression, or more precisely, her very pert posterior did.

Within hours, Pippa’s bottom had its own Twitter and Facebook accounts and was trending on social media. Shots of her gym-toned derrière were splashed across papers and websites around the world. Literally overnight, she became a celebrity of global renown with offers to do everything from TV shows to porn.

Sadly, that fame came with a heavy price, which she was about to be forced to pay.

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Plenty of media coverage was devoted to Pippa Middleton when she acted as bridesmaid at her sister’s wedding. Picture: AFP

Pippa Middleton hit the headlines with a figure-hugging outfit at her sister Kate's wedding to Prince William. Picture: Oli Scarff

Only a week after the wedding, Pippa faced her first bona fide scandal, when a racy shot, taken years earlier, of the royal bridesmaid hit the net. The surprising image stood in stark contrast to her usually polished image. In the picture, a very tanned Pippa wears a lavender bra and a white skirt as she dances seductively with an unknown chap who is wearing what might either be boxers or board shorts.

It looked like just the sort of (perhaps boozy) hijinks one would expect privileged 20-somethings would get up to in between studying at sandstone colleges.

Pippa living her best life. Picture: Exclusivepix/australscope

Unfortunately, this humiliating incident was just a taste of what was to come. The following week, things got worse when an image of Pippa topless hit the net.

Intriguingly, the provocative pictures had also been taken years earlier, in this case during a 2006 holiday. Kate, Wills and friends had traded frosty England for the sunny beaches of Ibiza where Gary Goldsmith, Carole Middleton’s headline-making brother had a home known as La Maison de Bang Bang. (Classy right?)

The group was photographed enjoying an afternoon lolling about on a boat, with both Middleton women wearing nearly matching white bikinis. Pippa showed off her athletic prowess by doing a backwards dive into the ocean, washboard abs on glorious display.

And then she did something simple and pretty normal — she took off her bikini top and rinsed it, leaving her very briefly topless.

Come their 2011 publication, the pictures caused a sensation and were humiliating for the Middleton clan, especially coming so soon after the wedding. The agency who owned the photos subsequently banned them from future sales.

Pippa Middleton is pictured with Kate, on the same day she was briefly photographed topless by paparazzi. Picture: Solarpix/australscope

Unfortunately, Pippa wasn’t the only Middleton who was facing undue exposure.

An image of brother James’ naked (and extremely toned) bottom also hit the web at this time along with a shot showing him holding his genitalia. (Previously, a picture of him dressed as a French maid clutching his, um, meat and two veg had done the rounds along with one of him that may or may not show him enjoying a naked beer next to a fire.)

It comes as no surprise that, according to the same report, the embarrassing shots had been sold by a friend for “substantial sums”. The lawyers were duly called in with many of the images scrubbed from the internet.

(Within the year, Kate would be facing her own nude scandal, when images of her sunbathing topless in France would be taken by a paparazzo and in 2016, thousands of Pippa’s private photos were allegedly stolen when a hacker broke into her iCloud account.)

“James and Pippa are really embarrassed,” a friend told the (UK) Telegraph at the time. “How were they supposed to know when these pictures were taken that they would be put under such scrutiny?

“The whole family is furious at what they see as a betrayal.”

Daniela Elser is a royal expert and freelance writer with 15 years’ experience who has written for some of Australia’s best print and digital media brands. Continue the conversation @DanielaElser