Pippa Middleton's Parisian costume party photos cause a stir

Pippa Middleton is seen at the front row during the Temperley runway show on Sept. 19, 2011, in London.

/ Getty

(CBS/AP) Photos of Pippa Middleton, the younger sister of the Duchess of Cambridge, attending a friend's decadent costume-themed birthday party in Paris have surfaced in tabloids, where guests' racy costumes included a man in a dog collar and a nearly naked nun.

Pictures: Pippa Middleton

The pictures are striking: women in revealing, low-cut period costumes from the 18th-century playacting with men in fancy clothes and spiky leather collars and bracelets.

Buckingham Palace declined to comment, but the racy coverage was likely not well received by Britain's royal family, which has been enjoying a popularity boost since the former Kate Middleton's fairytale wedding to Prince William last year.

Pippa Middleton holds no royal title, but her life has been subject to intense scrutiny since she captured attention at her sister's wedding with a close-fitting maid of honor dress.

Britain's media often characterize her as the party-loving, more vivacious contrast to the elegant and subdued Duchess.

The Daily Mail story - with the headline "Her Royal Hotness and the viscount in a dog collar" - showed Middleton, dressed in an 18th-century style top, posing with other similarly dressed women and a man in a king's costume laughing as one of the women pulled on the dog collar around his neck.

The article said the man was the host, Arthur de Soultrait, a French fashion designer.

The paper ran other photos from the party that featured a woman in scanty lingerie and a nun's headdress dancing with a dwarf.

The story came after photographs in The Sun newspaper Monday that showed Middleton in a convertible, next to a companion who pointed what appeared to be a gun at the photographer.

A spokesman for a French clothing company owned by de Soultrait, who also appeared to be in the car, denied that Middleton's companion brandished a pistol at the paparazzi, saying that the driver was in fact "playing a game" with the photographers with a toy gun.

Paris police say they've received no complaint and are not investigating the incident.

18 Photos

Pippa Middleton

[audemus]

I fail to understand why the behavior of a trashy skank should matter to anyone, except maybe to the wife of some equally skanky man who "wandered off the reservation...."

[JeffChristie666]

It matters because Pippa and her family are "heads of state."

They hold themselves out as being better than everyone else and are paid an absolute FORTUNE to smile and look pretty at the opening ceremonies for hospitals and libraries.

Now they have a problem because little Pippa showed her true colors by dressing up as Marie Antoinette and then laughing as one of her useless blue-blood friends made a threat on the life of a silly commoner.

It's disgusting.

[debrasimons]

Let us not give too much thought to these frivolous matters. There is much else to focus on in this world.

[Mathion]

So the SISTER-IN-LAW of someone has a wild life?

Who the f*ck cares? Giver her a break and let her live it.

[sdmom121]

I'm impressed that the royal family has made no comment. That's a classy response.

[Bojax39]

Wow, what a non-story.

[Montana5]

Sounds as if she is trying to qualify for Secret Service protection.

[royalstar05]

She's better lookin than her sister.

[rightbehind]

Leave her alone. She's a hotty just living her life.

[offthefence]

Give it a rest.

Does anybody give a &^%$ what this lady does with her life?

Unreal what is news worthy.

[SarahBOhio]

And in other shocking front-page scandal, I'm painting my dining room this weekend. I expect full coverage on the CBS evening news.