Pippa Middleton and her husband, James Matthews, are under fire with their local community. According to Mail on Sunday, Pippa (Kate Middleton’s younger sister) and Matthews allegedly put up signs near a gate on their property in West Berkshire. The signs discourage people from walking on a path that leads to their mansion and locals say that they’ve been using the path for years, especially since the property’s previous owner, Sir Terence Conran, didn’t mind when people walked on the path—which is a private footpath, by the way.
I like to walk, and I don’t see why I can’t walk there. I have been walking along there for 50 years. When Sir Terence had it, he had no objections. I think we should have a right to roam,” a villager shared, according to the Mail on Sunday. The West Berkshire Council hasn’t commented on the matter, per People.
Conran passed away in 2020. Pippa and Matthews moved in two years later.
I think it is a shame. It is a lovely walk. Although it wasn’t officially a footpath, Sir Terence didn’t have any objections. He was very nice. Everyone liked him. He was quite involved in the village,” another local said. “It feels they are depriving the village of an amenity.
The dispute reportedly started back in March, when Matthews’s estate manager filed a Highway Declaration Notice to the West Berkshire Council “marking out his private territory.
The Mail on Sunday adds that Eugene Futcher, chairman of local walking group the West Berkshire Ramblers, countered the application and requested that the path be designated a public right of way. People adds that the council has until 2025 to make a final decision on the matter.
When Pippa and Matthews got engaged in 2016, a source close to the couple shared that they both had a “deep desire” to disappear from the spotlight. Instead, they hoped to be “having children and leading a quiet life” in the wake of Pippa’s viral appearance at her sister’s wedding.
