Pippa Middleton romancing future Duke?

The royal bridesmaid Pippa Middleton is following her sister Kate's noble footsteps.

The 27-year-old Pippa is reportedly in a serious romance with her old flame, George Percy, heir to the Duke of Northumberland.

It is one of Britain's richest and grandest dukedoms, with a vast estate that includes Alnwick Castle, the movie setting for Harry Potter's wizard school, The Inquisitr revealed.

George, 27, will one day inherit the lot, including a fortune of $463 million (£315m) .

Pippa has been close friends with George for years. They met at Edinburgh University and had a fling in their final year in 2008.

Last year they insisted they were "just friends" after he was seen helping her get over her boyfriend Alex Louden.

But it blossomed into love at a New Year's Eve party thrown by the Middleton family.

Pippa was reportedly by George's side all evening and was hanging off his arm all night.

After Pippa parted with ex flame Alex first thing she did was spend a weekend on George's estate in Northumberland. But now the two are out in the open and often seen spending time together.

When George was 14 his father went to court to delay his inheritance, fearing it would send him off the rails. Instead of getting £1million and £250,000-a-year income at 18, he had to wait until he was 25.

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