It’s a subject that for the past week has been generating no (rear) end of conversation among Big Apple-based Brits: Will Pippa Middleton — the party-loving, pert-posterior-owning younger sister of future Queen Kate — be making her home in New York?
Ever since she notoriously stole the show from her big sister at the royal wedding in April 2010, Pippa, 28, has been a star in her own right. She’s secured an advance of nearly $650,000 from Penguin for a book on the art of party planning, which is scheduled to be released in the fall, and split up with boyfriend Alex Loudon — who accompanied her to her sister’s wedding. And last month, she caused a scandal when she was photographed in an Audi in Paris, seated next to a pistol-packing French playboy named Arthur de Soultrait (who later apologized for waving the weapon, which he insisted was a toy gun).
The word in London is that Pippa is getting tired of being endlessly scrutinized under a British lens, and is thinking of moving to New York to escape the strain of living in her sister’s shadow. A friend of Pippa, who lives and works in New York and spoke to The Post on condition of anonymity, confirmed that Pippa was considering a move to the city that never sleeps.
“She’s at a crossroads in her life — single and ready both for a fresh career challenge and to embrace a new scene,” says the source.
“Moving to New York is something she’s contemplating — but it’s far too premature to think she’s sitting at home, on the Kayak Web site, about to purchase a one-way ticket to JFK.”
But it won’t be her decision alone.
“The Middletons are a particularly close family and even though she’s a senior royal, Kate still depends on her in all sorts of ways. A move to New York is almost as much Kate’s decision as it is Pippa’s,” the source says.
“If Kate ultimately finds her sister is indispensable, Pippa will end up in London. Their younger brother James can make a mean cupcake, but it’s doubtful he can effectively serve the interests of the Middleton family as well as his sister.”
Pippa will be spending a time in New York to promote her book, “Celebrate,” in the fall, and it’s thought she’ll make a definitive decision on her long-term plans when she’s over here.
“She’s certainly not short of friends in New York,” the pal says, citing p.r. maven Georgie Downie — who, like Pippa, is an ambassador for the Too Many Women cancer charity — and family members of her ex-boyfriend Loudon, who live here and with whom Pippa is close.
Insiders say her set in the city would also include video journalist Willem Marx, sister Kate’s ex-boyfriend from Marlborough College, and Luke Parker Bowles, Camilla’s nephew.
A move to New York makes sense to the resident Brit pack.
“In London, Pippa is an enormous fish in a middle-sized pond — here she’ll have more freedom,” says Sean Kavanagh-Dowsett, co-proprietor of English restaurant Tea and Sympathy.
“There’s an insatiable appetite [in New York] for It girls from London, and Pippa would be the best one ever,” says Euan Rellie, a British banker and socialite who is married to Lucy Sykes, who was among New York’s It girls in the 1990s.
“She’d be the darling of New York — the city would be her oyster.”
And Rellie speculates that the infamous backside would send flashbulbs into a state of frenzy: “Pippa has the best bottom in Britain, and it would get a 10 out of 10 on the New York social circuit.”
The sibling-royal rear would also supply a boon to British business.
“The restaurant business is all about bums on seats, so why not have her bum on the seat?” says Kavanagh-Dowsett.
“It would raise the English profile, and that’s always good.”
More outgoing than her sister, Middleton is a serious socialite (a popular party trick from her younger days involved removing her clothes and draping herself in a dress made of toilet paper). Should she move here, no doubt Pippa’s partying would extend far beyond sipping warm white wine at formal British consulate functions.
“I’d imagine her fitting in very comfortably with the Vanity Fair-Waverly Inn downtown set,” says Rellie. Indeed, sources say Pippa regularly attends Vanity Fair parties in London.
But the English in New York are split over where in the city Pippa would be happiest living.
“Pippa would be in her element in the Upper East Side,” says Brit entrepreneur Mark Dorosz. “She’d love popping into the Jones Wood Foundry pub or enjoying a hangover brunch at Sant Ambroeus.”
Says Rellie: “She’d have more fun in the West Village. There’s a huge British mafia, and she’d find it irresistible.”
Not all Brits are wild about Pippa joining them here. “Kate Middleton’s sister moving here is not exactly ‘hold the front page’ news!” harrumphs veteran boulevardier Anthony Haden-Guest.
“She has a cute ass, but what else? The Middletons are middle-class posers.”
Londoners are sensitive about the potential defection. “London is the town that matters globally — in every way it’s much more exciting than it used to be,” says social commentator Peter York, who coined the phrase “Sloane Ranger” to describe Princess Diana and her set.
“But I can see why New York would appeal to her. People will be much less shy about offering her commercial opportunities. It will be quite useful for her to learn how to be an American.”
Plenty of Brits are hopeful she’ll make the Manhattan transfer. “Pippa’s extremely savvy, extremely social and she comes from a family that knows inherently how to promote themselves,” says Rellie. “I’d be amazed if she doesn’t come here.”