Pippa Middleton turns her back on promoting party book

 

Pippa Middleton and her sister Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge settle into the Royal Box in July at the Wimbledon for the lawn tennis championships. (Reuters)

Pippa Middleton may not have much to celebrate with ‘Celebrate.’

The paparazzi-stalked sister of the Duchess of Cambridge is launching her book on party planning on Oct. 30. It wasn’t the book that was long-awaited as much as the TV and promotional tour that would finally put Pippa in front of microphones. The U.S. networks, especially, were salivating at the thought of finally getting the inside scoop on life on the Royal Family fringe.

Alas, it appears this is a book that will be setting sail with its author. Her publishers in the UK and U.S. have both indicated in reports that Pippa will not be doing interviews, no matter who is asking the questions (sorry Ellen, Oprah, etc.).

“Pippa is not doing anything for us,” Viking Press spokeswoman told the New York Daily News. “She is not coming here to do interviews and is not available for anything, unfortunately.”

The speculation is that the pressure is on Pippa not to do anything that might embarrass her sister Kate or the Royal Family. With the topless Kate scandal still a fresh wound, the level of concern was high over what Pippa might be asked publically. No one is naïve enough to have expected Pippa would be invited onto a TV show to give lessons on how to fold napkins.

One source told the Daily News that using her connection to royalty might put in the role of “the next generation’s Sarah Ferguson.”

“If Pippa is quizzed about Kate’s topless pictures, then whatever answer she gives will generate more news about the matter, and upset Will and Kate,” the source said.

All this does not sit well with Pippa’s publishers, who have paid about $600,000 as an advance on the book. That’s an enormous investment in a first-time author and they were counting on Pippa to make the media rounds. If that is indeed off the table, then ‘Celebrate’ could find itself in the dusty corners of discount book stores fairly quickly.

Worse for Pippa, it would stall her own ambitions, that go way beyond being a rear-view royal wedding poster girl and a party-going princess. If she has to keep mum for the sake of sis, how long will it be before some sibling tension emerges?

For the moment, appearances are being kept up. Kate, fresh from a solo visit to northeast England on Wednesday, spent the night catching up with hubby William and sister Pippa at a club in London.

Who knew that being Kate’s sister would be so hard?