It’s been a tumultuous 2026 for Pippa Middleton and her husband, James Matthews, after the couple sold their business, Bucklebury Farm Park, due to $1.1 million debts. But the couple’s expansive Berkshire, England estate, known as Barton Court, has been at the center of a local controversy ever since the Matthews family bought the property in 2022.
Local residents were used to walking down a footpath that cut through James and Pippa’s 145-acre estate, but after they bought Barton Court, the couple put up “no trespassing” signs and blocked access to the lane.
Angry residents took the case to court—and now Princess Kate's sister and brother-in-law have been told that they “cannot rely on privacy and security concerns to justify closing a footpath,” per the Telegraph.
Residents argued that the lane had been “used uninterrupted for decades” by dog walkers and families in the area, and the West Berkshire Council ruled in their favor. However, a six-day public inquiry is now being held after James Matthews challenged the ruling.
A spokesperson for the couple stated, “For as long as records exist, there has never been a footpath/public right of way on the land currently under discussion. There are other clearly marked footpaths nearby.”
The Matthews family expressed that opening the lane to the public presented “very real practical, privacy difficulties and security issues” for James, Pippa and their three children, Arthur, Grace and Rose.
“Contrary to media reports, the previous owners of the property from as far back as the 1970s did not allow public access to the land under discussion. It has always been private property,” the spokesperson for James and Pippa added.
On May 13, Ken Taylor, who is overseeing the hearing, stated that “questions of privacy and security were outside the scope of the inquiry,” per the Telegraph.
Ultimately, the case will be decided after establishing “whether the public had used the route frequently enough over a 20-year period, from 2002 to 2022, to establish legal rights of access.”
