Will Percy make Pippa a Duchess?

The mini-breaks in European capitals, the day of the tennis tournaments at the chic - it's classic 20-something right-split-of-my-partner behavior.

Now that Pippa Middleton has separated from his banker friend, former cricketer beautiful Alex Loudon, the arduous task of consoling His Royal Hotness seems to have decreased to a very eligible bachelor youth: a George Percy.

He is there, blonde and slightly disheveled, pushing his luggage cart as they head out to Madrid with friends, his rowing around a lake, laughing at his jokes and his accompanying coffee for nightclubs .

It is again with him in London, emerging from a French restaurant near Sloane Square, after dinner at three o'clock, and taking her back to her apartment until 2 am the next day, he sits next to her in the stands The Queen Club in West Kensington, watching tennis, the nuances of port.

Pippa former roommate from Edinburgh (she also lived with Ted Innes Ker, the son of the Duke of Edinburgh) has finally made available for the dates of games recently, although it is supposed to be busy establishing itself as that contractor.

The word is they are always "just good friends", although we could all forgive Alex Loudon to find it deeply irritating that it just happens to be Percy snob who has stepped into the breach.