Whenever people talk about Carole Middleton these days, I always think back to how weird it was when she was suddenly desperate for attention in late 2018. I don’t doubt that Carole has briefed journalists and members of the press off-the-record for about 20 years, but she had always been purposefully silent when it came to on-the-record interviews. Then the Duchess of Sussex came around and… well, Meghan got pregnant and that seemed to completely throw a lot of different camps into disarray. I still believe that Carole did those 2018 interviews as a way to get attention back onto the Middleton family in the wake of the Sussexes’ popularity. I also believe that Carole was behind *some* of the attacks on Meghan. Carole and Kate plotted some of that sh-t together.
Anyway, after that phase – a phase which courtiers described as “bizarre” at the time – Carole has been running around, acting like the future Queen Mother. She set up a weird charity PR hit with People Magazine, she’s been pushing stories about how she’s “the power behind the throne,” and she somehow got that cannabis factory story shut down very quickly. The point is that Carole is asserting her authority over this whole narrative. And here she is again, in a new message posted to the Party Pieces IG:
A winter message from our founder, Carole:
“We may not be able to get together but, after a year like 2020, we need to remember what’s really important this Christmas.
“For me, what really matters is that my family feels connected. I normally let my grandchildren help me decorate the tree. This year, I’ll ask them by video call to decide which decoration should go where. It may need to be tastefully rearranged later…!
“Curating our Christmas ranges gave me some joy and escapism, and I hope they help you feel the same. From alternative advent calendars to Christmas decorations and stocking fillers, Party Pieces has everything you need for this festive season, which we hope is a safe and happy one for all.
“Yours, Carole.”
[From Party Pieces’ Instagram]
She is letting us know that her grandkids always decorate her tree, and that she’s Zooming with them this year, I guess because Kate hasn’t been bringing the kids to Bucklebury nonstop (like she usually does) this year. Which I don’t even believe, that they’ve been keeping their distance. Kate needs her mummy constantly, and my guess is that Carole has spent a lot of time at Anmer Hall during the pandemic, although I guess Kate probably hasn’t gone to Bucklebury. Anyway, this is just the kind of speculation Carole wants – she wants us talking about how much time she spends with the heir and the spares, etc.
Party Pieces IG photo courtesy of Liz Mcaulay, additional pics courtesy of Backgrid, WENN, Avalon Red.
I think James Middleton really messed up financially behind the scenes with Boomf and the Middletons worked with the Daily Mail and Telegraph to keep this from being covered ( though the Daily Mail let some of it out) and to raise money. This is also when they sold the London apartment.
Also, was Carole’s line about changing the tree later really necessary? What an overbearing control freak.
Carole go the stories shut down about James twice selling Nazi party supplies, even after staff came forward to complain about it. That was third week of February 2019. I wonder what leaks she gave/sold to the press in exchange for shutting those stories down.
And remember that weird story – I don’t know if it was around the Nazi marshmallows or not – about how little James was actually involved in Boomf? There was a line about how he waltzed in once in a while and then took off in his range rover. And then bam, no more discussion of Boomf.
I think that was the same whistleblower, who had brought the offensive material to management and management shipped out the order anyway. Twice.
I also recall all the people trying to defend him on here by sucking and blowing. He was still owner of the boomf when the Nazi marshmallows happened and so many tried to say he wasn’t directly involved and shouldn’t be held accountable.
Lol now even Carole is wearing trousers. WTF is going on !!! ???
I saw the trousers and thought she looked 100x more fashionable than Cosplay Kate, which makes me sad inside.
Carole usually looks good, she needs to give Kate advice. And her hair is much more stylish than her daughters’. Her posture, though— not as bad as Kate’s but it still could be better. Shoulders back, ladies.
It’s too bad Kate didn’t have half the confidence her mother projects. She’d be a whole new Kate who could actually give a speech.
Kate neglected any self improvement because about 8 years of her life she was basing all her time on getting the ring, with Carole’s encouragemengt.
I always let my kids decorate the tree when they were little, duh. And when they went to bed I fixed it. 😁
Yep, time-honored tradition. Especially when they are too small to reach higher than 3 feet! I’ve got pictures of our tree from a few years ago with virtually nothing on 3/4 of it and the bottom right quadrant so full of ornaments you can’t even see branches. :’-)
I’m so uptight about my tree that even when I’ve had adults over for tree-trimming parties, I rearrange it after they leave. My tree isn’t some curated, themed monstrosity — it’s a hodge-podge of inherited, gifted, kid-made, and anything I think is pretty. But my hodge-podge has to be properly arranged.
Same here. My husband is content to hang ornaments in the most disorganized of ways with no proper spacing, and he thinks it looks great. He’s then so wounded and offended when he sees me fixing it. So now I let him hang whatever he wants, wait till he goes to sleep, and then fix it. He’s never once noticed.
It’s like Monica from Friends–letting everyone else decorate one half of the tree, then turning it around to hide that half so that only the neatly decorated “good” side is showing. 😛
I don’t think Kate hasn’t not visited Carole – even with the lockdown, I’m sure if she really wanted to, she will visit her mother. This is more Carole being a relatable grandma
It is an open question where they are, and if William is in Norfolk trimming Roses. Are the kids back in school, then Kate is in London. William could be anywhere.
Carole has to say its over zoom, she cant say that her grandkids are coming over. I actually don’t think the grandkids will go to Bucklebury but I assume Carole has been at Anmer for the majority of the shutdown, especially in March/April. Wonder if she was traveling back and forth and she got COVID and that’s where William got it? That would also explain the lack of transparency re: his diagnosis – if they don’t want anyone (including the courtiers and Charles) to know that Carole was visiting them regularly when she wasn’t supposed to be.
IDK about Carole being at Anmer for most of lockdown, because she’d shut down William’s long country walks and intimate dinners with the neighbor. It could be kate and kids were at Middleton Manor.
I don’t think W&K have been together the majority of this time. There have been the PR papped holidays to the Scillys, in their Charles and Diana cosplay. And a couple of holidays out-of-country to sunny destinations (given their deep tans a couple of times this summer). But all of them together in one house since March? I’m not seeing it.
I don’t think they’ve been together the whole time either. I feel like Anmer is bigger than Middleton Manor so I think it makes sense that Carole was there, especially with the nice pool and tennis court. But even if William and Kate started out lockdown together, I definitely don’t think they were together the whole time. I think they spent a great deal of time apart.
I think Billy revealing he had covid was another self sabotage moment like when he said he doesn’t see his kids often. It raises a whole bunch of questions they don’t want asked. Especially about how often he actually sees or lives with his spouse and kids.
Kate and the rest of the royals have everyone they come into contact with tested first. I’m sure the midds just take the Covid test before their feet cross the door.
I wish they would stop trying to make Carole happen.
At least the stories about giving her and Mike a title have stopped, for now. There was a period of about 5/6 years after the wedding when about this time the Fail would run a story about the Mid parents being the only grandparents of a future King that didn’t have titles – it was to float the reaction from the public on the issues and every time it was ran the reaction was very negative. If the marriage lasts that long I suspect Carole will get her title when Cain is King.
Carole will only get a title if Mike would be alive.
And even if they’ll get one I am not sure aristos accept them. No way, Carole is NQOCD.
Even if she gets her title, she will never be truly accepted by the aristos is the feeling I get. But I don’t think she cares.
@Seraphina, on the contrary, she cares very deeply. The whole reason Kate was motivated to go after William is a testament to how much Carole cares about the approval and validation from the aristos. It’s the reason why she’ll never let Kate divorce William, no matter how unfaithful he is, no matter how much he disrespects her, because the end game of Kate being queen, outranking all the toffs who dismissed Carole off hand, matters more to her than anything else. If a title were ever offered, Carole would be on that shit in a heartbeat.
Whatever, Carole.
Must be nice. if Doria was promoting her business & referred to her grandchild the press& royal fans would be up in arms about trading on royal association etc
The Middletons have traded on royal connections for two decades. That’s one of the reasons Harry didn’t like them – because they were such grifters.
Especially when it’s obvious that the grandchildren she is referring to are the royal ones – she NEVER talks about Pippa’s son. In fact I don’t think i have ever seen a pap shot of Carole with Pip’s little one. Every so often you will see paps shots of Pippa out and about with him in his pram.
I’ve never seen one either. What is interesting is the amout of time and effort put into the first royal grandchild. We got all kinds of papped photos of Granny Carole with George, but not the other two or the non-royal one. She’s booking to be the power behind the throne Queen Mum to George.
And I was curious about how she is with the grandchildren royals vs Pippa’s child. That must really suck to be in Pippa’s shoes since she plays favorites – all due to William. She must walk on eggshells around Kate since she is their lottery ticket.
SO true!
It’s everywhere that Carole spend her time at Anmer, helping Kate with kids&householding. But what’s about Pippa? Did Carole help her with Arthur? Did she help her with the householding?
But maybe it’s good for Pippa. Now she can live her own life, far away from her toxic mother. And her son will be raised not like James Middleton.
I like to imagine that Pippa either has her own help or raises her son happily on her own with James. While I am no fan of Pippa and her thirsty ways, it still makes me chuckle at how she really ended up with the better life compared to Kate. She’s still wealthy (maybe not royalty wealthy, but she’s obviously comfortable), but she’s free to come and go as she pleases and isn’t living with the pressure of working for the tax-payers. And bonus, her husband actually seems to really enjoy being with her. I’d take Pippa’s life over Kate’s any day.
Seraphina, Carole raised both those girls to be viciously competitive not only with each other but with every female in their orbit. I honestly wouldn’t be surprised if Kate was making Carole choose when it comes to published pictures.
Would small children really be that invested in long-distance decorations? I could see asking about their favorites or any they made but the whole tree?
The thirst is real with this one. And I think it’s a dumb idea, not everything can be recreated on Zoom. The timing is odd, given the story about how Charles misses Archie (which I believe), and in light of stories years ago that Charles resented how the Middletons dominated the Cambridge grandchildren.
Lol that Party Pieces has social media. In the days of Party City and Amazon, I doubt anyone uses it.
Hmm, maybe this is to float a sale – rumour is that they have been trying to sell the business for years. I wonder if Pippa’s husband has bailed them out just like he did with Bboomf.
I doubt Terribly Moderately Wealthy James Matthews (TM) can keep carrying the Middletons. His money is as fictional and shady as the Middletons.
Schemer or not, she looks great in that promotional shot. Love the outfit. Age-appropriate, stylish, and festive.
I can’t see anything but copycatters, abusers, and grifters when I see the Middletons.
She does look really good in a very natural, age-appropriate way. She’s aging gracefully.
She is – she’s the best dressed Middleton woman.
Guess you didn’t notice the hyper photoshop on these pics, or Carole’s large round of plastic surgery a few years ago.
While this is an age-appropriate outfit, for years we’ve seen her wearing cute little dresses more suitable about a 20/30 something, so up to now I would not say she was aging gracefully, but maybe she’s changing. And yes, she’s been tweaked.
I don’t consider massive botox, fillers and surgery aging gracefully. She dresses better than Kate but that’s a pretty low bar.
She looks really put together. What is going on with Kate? Surely Mummy could help her get a sweater and pants that look …normal?
Oh please. She’s so full of shit. Of course she’s been seeing her grandchildren. I don’t believe for a minute that she has not. She’s out there schilling (looking quite good, I’ll give her that much)-I guess she’s still trying to sell the company? I can’t imagine why else she’d be so obviously promoting herself.
As far as Betty&Phil seem no stay at Sandringham during X-mas, it’s really intersting if Keenbridges would celebrate with Midds. And if yes – would Daily Fail post the articles about CRUEL KATE AND WILLIAM LEAVE QUEEN ON CHRISTMAS as it was with H&M?
I have such mixed feelings about her. Have always believed that she positioned her daughters to be in close contact with the wealthy and powerful, and plotted the “be nice to William” strategy. However, what mother wouldn’t want the best for her girls? I do find her pretentious though. Privately I would suspect she is one tough cookie, playing the long game, much like her daughter. I do think she is a loving and doting grandmother.
My mother wanted the best for me, but it was encouraging me to push myself academically, take risks, apply for jobs I didn’t think I could get, etc. It didn’t mean “marrying well.”
Also like….somehow I don’t think that treating your children as extensions of yourself, and using them as pawns in your own personal revenge fantasy against the posh toffs who disrespected you is the same as “wanting what’s best” for one’s children, but then again, maybe my parents didn’t really get the memo on that somehow?
My mother would have never encouraged me to follow a man who treats me like dirt for a decade for a title. She encouraged self esteem, independence and ambition and giving to others who have less. Carole Middleton is Kris Jenner and neither of them should be celebrated as good mothers.
Exactly. I don’t understand why any mother would want her daughter to be completely dependent on a man.
the only pity I’ve every felt for Kate is that her family doesn’t have her back in her relationship. When William dumped her, instead of telling her that really, she was better off and could be her own person and find someone who really loved her, they plotted how to get him back.
Even if she’d wanted to end it with him, she has literally nowhere to turn.
I wouldn’t exactly call a mother pushing her daughter to pursue a man with a wondering eye “wanting the best”. Carole would make for an interesting psychological study for sure.
@Julia, I kind of agree. And it’s part of what aggravates me about Carole and Kate, by extension. They fashion themselves as ordinary, salt-of-the-earth, middle-class folks, but they only pretend to be that way because they think it makes them look good. They don’t actually care about that part of their identity, and it’s evidenced by how quick they are to shed their background when it becomes inconvenient to them–like say, when they’re social climbing among the posh toff crowd to bag a prince, where being middle-class is a strike against them rather than a point in their favour.
Their social climbing gets nothing but contempt from me, because it does fuck all to break down any barriers. They don’t care about that. And that would actually be fine, bc they’re not beholden to the rest of us, but they shouldn’t pretend like they are, if that’s the case, which they do quite a lot of when they peddle their, “We’re just a simple ordinary middle-class family with perfectly ordinary grandkids who struggle just like all of you normal folks!!!” shtick. They want to climb past the barriers, but keep them up for anyone else, because they want to be privileged, while no one else should be.
I’m fine with social climbing on a good day. Heck, the rich posh idiots deserve it tbh. But if you’re going to do it, you’d better not do so by treating your background like an on/off switch that you can flick at your convenience. If Carole had made zero apologies for her background, for having been born in a council house, for working a trade as an air hostess, for being tacky and nouveau riche, I wouldn’t have minded her half as much. If Kate hadn’t tried to retrofit her accent into becoming a posh mumble by taking fucking accent lessons from the nephew of the Duke of Richmond, Gordon and Lennon (that’s three fucking dukedoms), I wouldn’t have cared. If they’d owned any of that shit, I would have cheered for them. But they didn’t.
They’re fundamentally ashamed of their class, fundamentally ashamed of who they are, and they try to acquiesce to the venal demands of the posh toffs at every turn because they have no spine of their own, all while trying to convince everyone else that they’re not actually like that. Their PR sucks bc it’s so fundamentally disingenuous, and everyone can see it, and it winds up exposing the truth about them, which is that they’re just as prejudiced and contemptuous as the posh toffs are, but they pretend not to be.
I think there is a difference between trying to improve your lot in life by education and hard work and doing it by just marrying a rich guy. The first method involves personal self improvement and contribution to society. The second is simply selling your body for social power. Any woman who has reduced herself to chattel will not be respected by her husband. Is there really any difference between what Kate has done and what Melania has done? Kate chased a title and Melania US citizenship. Both live generally materialistic lives and are forced to do any work linked to their social status. While some royalists pretend that having a silly title means something, it really doesn’t. The BRF have pretended that they are providing meaningful contributions to society in exchange for their luxurious lifestyle, but Kate has broken those norms just as Melania has by being the laziest in their position as compared to others and not doing anything to change except wrangle PR to pretend they are doing much more.
Despite all the criticism against Carole, she really does have the IT factor.
And Kate?….well, we all know the answer to that.
How great, they could be the family UK never had, barf.
“It may need to be tastefully rearranged later…!”
This here is the essence of the lower middle class: “tasteful-ness” (not actual taste) over kids’ spontaneousness and sillyness.
Any person with actual taste would take the horribly asymmetrical, unbalanced, and jolly option.
Kaiser, yes! It was so weird when Carole, who hadn’t peeped one word to the press in the 18 years Kate was associated with them, suddenly does her first interview! Just as Meghan had stepped into the picture. It was so obvious she was trying to get the attention back to them. Ha! as if she had a chance against Meghan.
Meghan was able to actually hit the ground running and her popularity scared Carole because her own daughter did nothing for a decade and coasted on being young, white and thin. The laziness and inadequacies became that much more obvious and so Carole had to take things into her own hands and start directly attacking Meghan and her work ethic. Up until that interview it would have been hard to pin things on Carole, but she revealed her fear and took the low road.
Ma midds had so much banking on kate securing the bag. But nothing has really changed in her life, the aristocracy still doesn’t want anything to do with them and they are still stuck with that business that doesn’t make money. I think Carole thought she would rake it in when Kate secured the bag, but has she really? Has anything actually changed? All the middletons have is ‘celebrity’ which they can’t really capitalise on because that would appear to be classless. When Meghan came along, not only did she upstage Kate, but the middletons as well, who were already getting little return after years of hustle. They chased Meghan out of town thinking she would shrivel away in shame, like Kate would when she inevitably gets chucked. That £150 million Netflix really must make them incandescent with rage.
Carole is for sure a tough cookie. But most people who run businesses are. I think she adores her grandchildren and is good with them, as is Michael. I don’t find this note offensive in any way. She’s running a business that has had some rough times, and now with a pandemic on, very little call for actual parties. She’s trying to drum up business–nothing wrong with that. Mention of the grandkiddies? It would be weird if she didn’t as people know she is an active grandma, and frankly, it’s a relatable comment.
She may have pushed Kate–and Pippa–to marry well, lots of mums do. If I fault her, it’s for not instilling career ambition into any of her kids. All well-educated, not one of them go-getters..
That’s what is awful.
The business has never been as successful as Kate stans want to believe. See the Telegraph article about the Middleton money, published around the time of the wedding.
This whole prince chase was funded by shady Uncle Gary and his shady money, not PP. The interviews from two years ago were around talk of all of it coming down around their ears, massive complaints from customers and staff. As for good with the grandkids? The only one she’s been seen with is George, which is highly suspicious and very Carole.
I can’t get over how much she looks like Kate tbh. The resemblance is so striking.
Also, this whole e-mail(?) message(??) is just so awkwardly worded. Like, stfu Carole, we all know you don’t give a shit about the plebs on a good day.
Surely it would be Kate who looks like her mother, not the other way around. Half of Kate’s face looks like Carole, the other half is like Pippa.
Whenever I think about how different Carole and doria are, I always think of the weddings. During meghans wedding doria looks kinda worried and a bit sad, like she was scared about what her daughter was marrying into. During Kate’s wedding, Carole looked smug AF, like the cat that’s got the cream. I don’t think she gave AF about what the firm would do to her daughter, even though she had a decade long reality check. Meghan was lucky that she always had harry, Kate has never really had William support and is well and truly on her own there, not that Carole cares. As long as her daughters royal, that’s all that matters.
Carole’s end game wasn’t Kate marrying William; it was her grandson being a royal heir.
Several years ago, Carole shared in an interview that she always has a number of Xmas trees in her home. Each grandchild has a room in her home, and each also has their own personal tree in their bedroom, to decorate as they please. Sounded like a lovely tradition, and how nice to have such a spacious home. Not sure what she means this year, talking about “the tree, ” as a singular. Maybe trying to be more relatable?
@FEBRUARY-PISCES well said and I’ll never forget how smug kate looked during 2018 wedding even lowkey giggling after side eyeing camilla when the American pastor was giving a long sermon.
Like mother like daughter, kate again showed us how insecure and petty she is during CW church service just like when her mother did a random interview after Meghan’s speech in Australia to say that royalty is more than giving speeches. Their insecurities were on full display in more than one occasion. Oh what I’d give just to see their reaction to H&M’s Netflix deal because pippa tried desperately to capitalize on her royal connections in America only to fail spectacularly😂. I remember reading about how USAtoday pitied her and gave her a 400thousand per year pilot which was immediately cancelled after one episode. And her book failing miserably in UK+being dropped by waitrose as a columnist. No wonder they were jealous of Meghan