She will be 65 in four weeks’ time, but there is no doubt that Carole Middleton, grandmother of the future King George, is in majestically trim shape.
Spotted on the beach on the Caribbean island of St Barts, where she is holidaying with daughter Pippa and her husband, James Matthews — whose family own the Eden Rock hotel there — she showed off her slender ‘Middy middle’.
Not to mention an enviably pert posterior, which rather indicates that Pippa has her mother’s genes to thank for the rear which made her a star at sister Kate’s wedding to Prince William in 2011.
Carole Middleton, 64, wearing a black bikini top and bottoms with a white diamond pattern, takes a stroll through the waves in St. Barts, Caribbean, on Boxing Day
As Carole’s brother, Gary Goldsmith, observed last year: ‘Carole has always looked after herself and eaten healthily — and she has a stunning figure.’
Indeed, before Pippa’s wedding in 2017 to James, she trimmed down from a size 12 to her current ten. She grumbles, though, that she has put weight on around her bust as she has aged, which can make clothes shopping tricky.
So how does she stay so formidably toned and slim? Here, we reveal a few clues…
A strict vegan diet — red wine allowed
As her brother Gary indicated, Carole has always been slender.
Perhaps this is a legacy from her days as an air hostess, when a premium was put on an immaculately polished exterior.
She has maintained her slim figure through three children and the dawning of middle age.
Before daughter Kate’s wedding in 2011 she famously went on the Dukan diet — a high-protein, low-carb regime devised by French nutritionist Dr Pierre Dukan, telling a Sunday newspaper in October 2010: ‘I’ve been doing it for four days, and I’ve lost 4lb.’
Carole and Michael Middleton looked to be soaking up the sun on Boxing Day, with Carole sporting a healthy tan
Sales of Dr Dukan’s book soared as a result, and when asked the secret of his success, he put it down to two factors: ‘It works . . . and Carole Middleton!’
More recently, though, she is said to follow her other daughter Pippa’s advice on all things fitness and exercise, as Pippa, a former sports scholar at Marlborough College, is an expert.
And both Pippa and Carole apparently follow the Sirtfood diet which allows only certain foods, including turmeric, red wine, dates, walnuts, blueberries, apples, citrus fruits, parsley, capers, green tea, soy, strawberries, olive oil, red onion, rocket and that old healthlover’s favourite, kale.
Carole, dressed in a stylish mis-matched black and white bikini, reaches out to daughter Pippa for a hand as she exits the water
Pippa and Carole Middleton showed off their incredibly toned physiques as they basked in the sun and frolicked in the sea in St. Barts
In an interview last year, Carole revealed that she had become a vegan — an easy switch to make as many of the Sirtfoods are veg or fruit.
The theory behind the diet is that certain foods ‘activate’ sirtuins, which promote metabolic health.
She appears to be self-conscious about her bust and said: ‘I’m bigger round my top half than I was, so that’s why I prefer dresses to trousers and I don’t like anything tight. One of the reasons I don’t like shopping for clothes is that there aren’t enough for women my age.’
Country hikes and lightsaber battles
Those lovely legs are testament to the power of a regular walking habit.
Carole apparently loves to go on bracing hikes in the West Berkshire countryside near her home, and she is also noted for being an excellent dancer at parties.
Both she and husband Michael, 70, are said to have a snappy sense of rhythm.
Carole and Pippa enjoyed some mother-daughter time on the beach, while Kate is in Sandringham in Norfolk with her husband Prince William and the Queen
Incidentally, earlier this week she posted a video of herself having a fun Star Wars-style lightsaber battle (with a 99p inflatable weapon from her own range) on the Party Pieces website.
It is obvious from the footage that Carole is still a nimble mover with lightning-fast reactions.
Bargain bikini, expensive sunglasses
Nothing flashy in the beachwear on display here — the top half seems to be a Fantasie bra-style bikini, costing around £42, and the bottoms are £17.99 Esprit Miami Beach from Zalando.
The sunglasses, though, are from Bvlgari and cost £335.
Over the past two years, Carole has taken the bold decision to grow out her fringe, depriving her of a key piece in the armour of many beauties of a certain age who find that nothing flatters an older face like a fringe.
Carole and Pippa strolling along the beach while soaking up some Caribbean sunshine on Boxing Day
She has her hair done at Richard Ward, in Chelsea, West London, who also looks after Kate’s hair.
The salon is said to banish Carole’s greys, too, for around £400 a time. She no longer has highlights but a warm allover colour, and is letting her hair grow longer than it has been.
Carole favours facials at the A-list Mayfair salon run by Linda Meredith.
Meredith has treated Victoria Beckham, Gwyneth Paltrow, Stella McCartney, Kate Moss, Julia Roberts and Colin Firth.
Her signature facials are cleansing and plumping, and cost around £150.
They end with a blast of oxygen to plump surface lines and push oils deeper into the dermis.
She is also said to have two ‘very light’ spray tans a month.
Like mother, like daughter! Pippa showed off her toned figure as she strolled along the sandy shore with her glamorous mother Carole
She’s an ace on her own tennis court
Carole was raised by her dad, Ron Goldsmith, a painter and decorator, and mum Dorothy, in Southall, West London.
She had ambitions to be a teacher but was apparently thwarted as there was no money to send her to college.
These days, money is no object.
She lives in a magnificent £5.5 million home in West Berkshire, thanks to the success of her business, Party Pieces, which was founded 30 years ago when she was pregnant with son James.
Somewhere along the way, perhaps when she was based in Jordan with husband Michael, a flight dispatcher, she took up tennis.
She plays several times a week on the hard court at their home, is reportedly ‘very competitive’ and prefers grinding out victories in singles matches to the jollity of doubles.
She often goes to Wimbledon to watch tennis with Pippa or Kate, and went to dinner with Swiss tennis champ Roger Federer and his wife, Mirka, last year — the Federers are friends of Pippa’s and were guests at her wedding.
Both Kate and Pippa are also keen tennis players, and they excelled at the sport while at school. Kate plays at the Hurlingham Club in Fulham, West London, and apparently says this is the one sport at which she can beat Prince William.
Carole also has a heated swimming pool at her home, and for decades she has been a fan of swimming, which is an excellent exercise for core strength and can burn off around 500 calories an hour.
Pippa has been known to go to hydrospinning classes and aqua-aerobics, although it’s not known if Carole has tried either.
SARAH VINE: Hurrah for Carole Middleton! But there ought to be a law against looking this good
Ah, yes. Just what you need to see when you’ve spent the past five days mainlining peppermint creams and brandy butter: Carole Middleton in a bikini on a sun-kissed beach in the Caribbean.
Let’s just take a moment to admire the full impact of this vision, shall we?
Toned, tanned legs and arms, not a hint of orange peel or bingo wing in sight. Trim tummy. Slim ankles and feet. Just the one chin.
This woman is 64, ladies and gentleman. Yes, 64. There ought to be a law against it.
Of course, it’s no news that Mrs Middleton is a fine-looking woman. But just how fine has never been quite so in evidence.
I mean, we know she is clearly blessed with top-notch genes, which have flowed seamlessly down to her daughters. But this is a whole new level of fabulous.
Pippa and Carole cooling off with a morning dip in the ocean on Boxing Day as they soak up the rays in St Bart’s
That said, it can’t be all down to Mother Nature, surely? Even with her inherent advantages, that is not a body that comes naturally to a woman approaching pensionable age with three grown-up children.
I detect hours of yoga, Pilates and personal training — not to mention shameless amounts of healthy eating — in those coltish limbs. Which makes her all the more infuriating. And, let’s be honest, extremely impressive.
Because however bad I might feel about my own physical inadequacies when I look at those pictures, however much I might regret that extra mince pie or that skipped gym session, I cannot deny feeling a huge amount of admiration for Mrs M.
Naturally, there are those who will say that women like Carole who choose to defy their age with hard work and healthy living are setting an impossible bar for the rest of us. That they make us feel inadequate and undermine our self-esteem.
Pippa lends a helping hand to mother Carole as they withdraw from the waves on Boxing Day – the Matthews family are well known on the island
Why can’t women just be allowed to get old and grey, they say? Why all this pressure to stay lithe and fit?
I get this, I really do.
As a 52-yearold who has always struggled to be better than she ought to be, I know where you’re coming from.
But given the option between being a stooped, overweight 64-year-old and one like Mrs M, why wouldn’t you go for the latter?
Personally, I don’t see it as pressure, I see it as a choice. A choice that women these days have at their fingertips more than ever before.
Pippa was joined by her husband James Matthews, 44, and the couple enjoyed a morning dip in the turquoise waters of the Caribbean
It’s not just that there are so many more ways of staying fit and healthy longer; it’s that it’s more the norm.
Because while there’s no question that Mrs M looks incredible, she’s by no means an anomaly.
I know plenty of women her age —and older — who look similarly good, not least my own mother, who has always set an example for women half her age.
When I look at the quality of life she enjoys compared to many of her friends, I can really see a difference.
Looking good is a side-effect of looking after yourself, and Mrs M is a classic case. It’s not about vanity, or one-upwomanship. It’s about being healthy and happy and comfortable in your skin.
Which, judging by the huge grin on her face, she clearly is.
After all, she’s not trying to be anything other than good for her age; she’s not pretending to be 40, even though she looks it.
And if her looking incredible in a pair of itsy bitsy bikini bottoms makes someone like me feel inadequate, that’s my problem, not hers.
So I hope she enjoys her time in the sun. She deserves every second of it.