Tuesday, 29 March 2011

YOU BEEN SNAP. HEN PARTY NEW'S*

After William's low-key stag do, it's Kate Middleton turn for a 'quiet night in with friends' to mark her hen party

By Miss FB Lyimo*

Considering the size of the wedding, some might have expected a little more glitz from the stag and hen parties.
But like her fiancée Prince William, Kate Middleton has chosen a low-key event that passed behind closed doors.
The royal bride is understood to have celebrated her last days as a single woman with a private party attended by a small group of close friends.

Low-key: Kate Middleton is said to have held a secret hen night organised by her younger sister Pippa,

Any hopes of seeing the 29-year-old out on the tiles with any of her girlfriends from the 'The Sisterhood', her university boating group, appear to have gone.
Her younger sister Pippa, who will be maid of honour at the royal wedding, is believed to have organised the gathering of women that took place at a friend's house a few days.

'She has already had her hen night, but it was certainly low-key,' a close friend told the Daily Telegraph.
'There isn't such a tradition attached to hen nights as there is to stag parties. It was done privately.
'Not all of Kate's friends were there and she will be catching up with other friends over the coming weeks.'

Alicia Fox-Pitt, 26, private tutor sisterhood

Friends: Guests are reported to have included former school friend from Marlborough Alicia Fox-Pitt (left) and pal Astrid Harbord (right)

Earlier this week it emerged that Prince William had shunned the limelight with a low-key stag party at a friend's country estate.
Prince Harry and nightclub owner Guy Pelly are believed to have organised the party for around 20 close friends including James Meade, who Prince William met at Eton, and Thomas Van Straubenzee who attended Ludgroe Prep School in Berkshire with the Prince.
Hugh Van Cutsem, whose father owns a large estate in Norfolk, is also understood to have been present. Cutsem is one of Prince Charles' godsons.

Been there: Rose Astor is thought to have attended the hen night. She is pictured here at her wedding in 2005 which was attended by the Prince and Kate Middleton

Kate Middleton's guest list for her hen night is also thought to have included members of the Van Custem family, such as Mr Van Custem's wife Rose Astor and Alice Hadden-Paton who is married to his younger brother Nicholas.
Other guests are reported to have included Olivia Beasdale, who shared a flat with Miss Middleton and Prince William at St Andrews University along with Astrid Harbord.
Alicia Fox-Pitt, the younger sister of Olympic eventer William Fox-Pitt is also said have attended. She is a formed classmate from Marlborough school and a member of 'The Sisterhood', a dragon boat crew that Miss Middleton was part of.
The events of the hen party are unlikely to have included heavy drinking. Miss Middleton in well known among her closest school friends for avoiding alcohol.
Sources have told in the past how she would often pass up the chance to sneak out at night with the other girls who visited the local pub.
A St James' Palace spokesman said: 'This is not something we would comment on. It is a private matter.