Why Meghan Markle pulled out of Pippa Middleton’s wedding

Prince Harry’s then-girlfriend was all set to attend Pippa Middleton’s wedding in 2017 – but pulled out at the last minute.

Meghan Markle pulled out of Pippa Middleton’s high-profile wedding at the last minute after becoming spooked by an article in a UK tabloid, according to a new biography.

The then-girlfriend of Prince Harry was set to attend Kate Middleton’s sister’s wedding in May 2017 but became worried that it would turn into a spectacle over who had the best bottom.

Pippa – whose derrière stole the show at her sister Kate’s 2011 royal wedding to Prince William – had already been worried her nuptials would be “overshadowed” by the “media frenzy” surrounding Meghan Markle and then-golden-boy royal Prince Harry, the authors claim.

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Pippa stole the show at her sister’s wedding in 2011. Picture: Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images

It made the Suits star a “somewhat reluctant addition to the guest list” for her wedding to James Matthews, according to the new biography, Finding Freedom: Harry And Meghan And The Making Of A Modern Royal Family.

Meghan “put careful thought into her outfit” to make sure it was “stylish without being splashy,” the book claimed.

But with just hours to go, she decided not to attend when The Sun newspaper ran a cover story with a headline suggesting it would be “Meghan v Pippa” in the “Wedding of the Rears,” according to the biography.

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Pippa Middleton and James Matthews after their wedding on May 20, 2017 in Englefield, England. Picture: Arthur Edwards/WPA Pool/Getty Images

There was a ‘media frenzy’ surrounding Harry and Meghan. Picture: Daniel Leal-Olivas/AFP

“Harry and Meghan agreed that she couldn’t possibly turn up at the church” after the story suggested Meghan was about to upstage Pippa with her own “Pippa moment”.

“If they worried their arrival might create a media circus despite taking every precaution, now they had no doubt it would,” the book claimed.

Instead, the actress checked into a nearby Airbnb while Prince Harry went to the church service alone – later sneaking into the reception in a “decidedly unflashy long black gown” and having done her own makeup.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have insisted that they “were not interviewed and did not contribute” to Finding Freedom.

However, the authors’ note says that, “when appropriate” they spoke to “the couple themselves”.

This story originally appeared in the NY Post and was reproduced with permission