LONDON (REUTERS) - Ms Pippa Middleton, sister of Britain's Duchess of Cambridge and possibly the country's most eligible single woman, is engaged to marry a hedge fund millionaire.
Her boyfriend, Mr James Matthews, went down on one knee to propose to Ms Middleton, 32, on a walk last weekend in the picturesque Lake District in north-west England. She said "Yes", the Daily Mail reported on Tuesday (July 19) citing sources close to the couple.
Ms Middleton turned heads when her sister Kate married Prince William in 2011, wearing a figure-hugging Alexander McQueen dress that earned her the nickname "her royal hotness" and launched her onto the society pages of Britain's celebrity-obsessed tabloid press.
The royal couple "are absolutely delighted with the news", a Kensington Palace spokesman said after Ms Middleton stepped out in the morning wearing a diamond-studded engagement ring valued by jewellery experts at 200,000 pounds (S$355,000).
She began dating the 40-year-old Matthews nearly a year ago. The couple were recently spotted together at the Wimbledon tennis tournament.
No date has yet been set for a wedding that would expand Britain's extended royal family to include a couple with humble origins - both are grandchildren of coal miners from the north of England, the Daily Mail reported.
