From late March to early June this year, Gary Goldsmith gave several major interviews. Goldsmith is Carole Middleton’s brother, and uncle to the Duchess of Cambridge, Pippa Middleton and James Middleton. I always call him “dodgy Uncle Gary” because he is, in fact, quite dodgy. He has a sordid history of domestic abuse, drug use and shady financial crap. I’ve always believed that Gary bankrolled Kate and Pippa’s social climbing, education and Kate’s decade-long waitying. Gary has spoken about his nieces and nephews over the years, but I was not prepared for just how many interviews he gave earlier this year. He was clearly sent out to bash Harry and Meghan. He was clearly sent out to spread the Middleton agenda, and to embiggen Kate to a ridiculous degree. So it’s weird that Dodgy Uncle Gary wasn’t invited to James Middleton’s wedding, right?
It was a big family bash, but one high-profile member of the clan missed out on James Middleton’s lavish wedding to Alizee Thevenet in the South of France last weekend.
James’s maverick uncle Gary Goldsmith, 56, was notable by his absence from a guest list that included the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.
Wealthy businessman Gary is the only brother of James and Kate’s mother, Carole, and seemed to have been caught unawares by the snub since he was holidaying in the region at the time, it is said.
Gary, who is James’s godfather, admits to being ‘disappointed’ to have missed the twice-delayed celebrations at Chateau Leoube, owned by JCB digger tycoon Lord Bamford.
Sources close to the wedding tell me it was ‘wild, fun and very drunken’… just like Gary’s kind of do.
That is very odd, especially since I felt like Uncle Gary’s spring interviews were all done at the behest of Middleton Manor, in concert with Kensington Palace. I mean, yes, the Middletons and the Windsors have diverging strategies, but Gary was clearly given the okay to speak as freely as he did. So why is he being punished for it now? He was invited to Pippa’s wedding and Kate’s wedding. I wonder if James simply didn’t want Gary there (???) or maybe Carole was trying to distance herself from the rather unhinged media strategy she pushed earlier this year. Huh.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, James Middleton’s IG.
I think the strategy in the early summer/late spring was all Middleton, no KP, and I think eventually he DID get shut down and this is the price of that – that the Middletons were told to distance themselves from him, so he was not invited to his nephew’s wedding.
I think its crappy on the Middleton’s part, they want his money and they want him to do their dirty work in the press but then they cut him off for events like this, wonder if this will change his media approach and nonsense talk about how perfect Kate is.
To clarify I’m not sure I’d want someone like Uncle Gary at my wedding either, but they’re fine with him when it comes to taking his money or setting him loose in the press, so that would tick me off if I were him.
Which makes me think there is a bigger prize at the end of the game for him. These are small battles – he plans on winning the end game.
Maybe he wants to be Lord Gary of Budville, or Earl of Whackeeweed.
The bigger play is making sure the family stays tied to the royals.
I agree. If he misses the odd wedding, it doesn’t matter because it’ll all be “worth it” when his niece is Queen.
It doesn’t sound like they even told him about it though! It sounds like he found out like everyone else! I’d be TICKED. Also he went to Kate’s and Pippa’s, right? (or was Pippa’s the one where he was told he couldnt go?) It seems weird to me that those weddings were ok for him to attend but a more private wedding in France was off limits.
At any rate, the more he keeps running his mouth to the press, I think the less likely it is that the family will be tied to the royals, so the Middletons are playing a dangerous game here with William.
(meaning that I think the more Gary spouts off about Kate being perfect and how the crown needs to go to William and Kate NOW the more I think he’s turning William sour towards the Middletons.)
Maybe he is the “close source” we always hear about! And so he has been outed. Just kidding – but that would be funny.
Whatever the case is – one thing holds true: this wedding has been very different than what many assumed it would be. And maybe that’s the brides doing.
Becks, he was invited to the CHURCH part of Pips wedding, but NOT the evening reception/party. He went to the church with his daughter, not even his wife at the time.
Becks, if I remember correctly he went to all of kates. And only the church for pippa. So it makes sense that he would be completely uninvited for James.lol. Kate is getting closer and closer to the real money so uncle coke bottle has outlived his use.
However too many skeletons to completely cut ties with dear uncle.
The middletons were told to distance themselves from Gary way before this. After the Goldsmith wing in BP interview. After getting caught on camera trying to sell drugs to reporters. After saying how William loves to party in his drug den mansion. After his spousal abuse came out. These were all moments where they were told to create space and they did until they needed Gary again. He was always brought back in after some middleton troubles.
While I think it’s plausible the Mids may be distancing from Gary, it’s also plausible that James simply didn’t want to invite him and was less beholden to social niceties than his sisters. I only invited some of my aunts and uncles to my wedding and my younger sister invited none of them to hers. If James and Gary weren’t particularly close why invite out of obligation?
Plus, Kate’s wedding was much more important to be seen. Not so much with james.
I think it was PW who didn’t want him invited. maybe pulled the same thing with Meghan at Pippa’s, who knows. We all thought it was Carole/pippa who didn’t want M to outshine their family. I’m guessing PW didn’t want to deal with Meghan in public at the ceremony.
This is very odd as last year was 100% Middleton PR with him front and centre. Have they had a falling out since? Or was Alizee like ‘nope, here is where I draw the line’?
If Alize wouldn’t draw the line at wearing Carole’s hideous wedding dress that was clearly not good enough for her own daughters then there is no line for her.
My guess is that Middleton’s blamed Gary for their PR blitz and William refused to go if Gary was there.
That’s a great guess.
That makes sense – William was enraged over the Middleton PR blitz (or William got an earful from Charles over it) and the Midds did the only thing they could do – blamed uncle gary and said he went rogue (even though we all know he didn’t), so he was banned from the wedding bc William’s attendance was more important.
But then to make sure the Middletons knew where he stood, he blocked Kate from the father’s day pictures and from the statute unveiling.
I’m inclined to agree that someone on the Windsor side, likely William, told them they had to distance themselves from uncle Gary after his comments.
To be fair, I don’t think Kate would’ve been allowed to wear her mom’s dress in the Abbey. Even with alterations to give it “shoulders/sleeves” it wouldn’t be deemed “fancy/grand enough” for marriage to an heir to the throne. Pippa always wanted a fancier wedding in the Minor Kourt of the Koven of Middleton, and as she was marrying into wealth (and a bought title); CarolE’s gown wouldn’t’ve been grand enough for her, either.
It really “feels” like it was a great fit (literally and aesthetically) for Alizee’s vibe as well as the casualness of their wedding in the vineyard.
I think Will made it clear he would not attend if Gary was there. “It’s him or me”
My guess, Carole came up with the whole Middleton PR blitz, from “Queen Kate and her husband, Bill” to “Carole is better mum than Diana”,including ” Lat Kate be Queen already- Charles has to step down” and she chose Uncle Gary as mouthpiece because he is shameless and thirsty and- expendable!
Will answered to her PR by forbidding Kate to attend Diana s statue unveiling, benching her for father’s day and leaking to his good friends that he would not divorce Kate because he respected the Queen too much…which could mean anything from he wants to continue living separate lives to he will wait until TQ dies and dump Kkkate …
In other words, Carole was told to sit down by Will , played dumb and blamed Uncle Gary for the whole thing and uncle Gary had no other choice than to eat s***t now and be benched lest his investment go to waste.
I can’t stand Charles, or William, and I detest the Middleton’s, Uncle Gary’s comments I don’t mind at all, the Middleton’s are social climbers, and if Gary wants to spout off it’s because they constantly paint him into a corner. Will hates everyone, and his behavior is not befitting, nor was his father’s they are both bullies, because they can get away with it. If the Middleton’s got a bit of a telling off, it is solely William at the helm.
Hmmm, maybe they didn’t want his “very drunken” head in in all the photos. And was the wedding in front of town hall “wild, fun and very drunken” or do they mean the reception? Maybe W&K and the kids left before the wildness began? It seems weird.
Maybe the Middletons really did get a telling off for William after all that heavy-handed PR.
This “dodgy Uncle Gary” person looks horrible. This man, like Piers Morgan, is one year younger than Bard Pitt.
Piers Morgan is YOUNGER THAN BRAD PITT?!
🤯🤯
The weekend hit its “Middleton buttons” quota with Kate, so Uncle Gary was out.
Maybe James wanted to protect his deal with Hello magazine.
I didn’t think William was at de wedding but maybe he was, he didn’t want Ole Gazza there , if he goes l don’t ???? What William wants he gets !!
So Will did attend the wedding and Gary didn’t? Sure, Jan.
Maybe he’s out of money and therefore not valuable to them anymore.
Throwing your family under the bus for social standing? The Middletons fit in well with the Windsors.
Uncle Gary gives me an anti-vaxxer vibe (I don’t know if he actually is) – maybe that’s why he wasn’t invited.
I’ve always been skeptical of the whole “Carole, the Richelieu of Berkshire” mega plotter narrative – it’s been William all along, wanting to piss off his dad by embracing this embarrassing social climbing family, and now maybe regretting his youthful obstinacy. Uncle Gary is just a little bigot running his mouth, and Carole’s PR has always been transparent – remember the signet rings?
With this least glamorous wedding the Middletons have effectively been sidelined – this is very not royal (contrast with Bea’s wedding, that most exclusive royal do… This new bride gets Carole’s old dress, not the Queen’s), no W&K in the pics, crucially no Prince George… they’re out. They’re firmly back to the b-list Hello!exclusive celebs.
Buh-bye, Berkshire. 😉
Gary’s interviews have never and will never be sanctioned by the Middletons or KP. Gary was more than likely jealous that Meghan’s father doesn’t get shut down the way he did. The difference being that Gary is a known criminal and Meghan’s dad is just a jerk. The Middleton’s have leverage over Gary that Meghan simply doesn’t have. The media is perfectly happy to use any relatives that come forward for their own agenda. I’ve never seen any evidence that any of the royals/Royal adjacent are supporting either Gary or Meghan’s dad giving interviews. They have both been viewed as embarrassing. Kate chose addiction as one of her causes early on as damage control. The royals made it clear through leaks that they wanted to bring Meghan’s father to the UK and basically keep him under their thumb to shut him up. Meghan didn’t want to handle it that way and it was her decision to make. So, it makes sense that Gary is 100% on the outs again. He only went to Kate’s wedding because it was part of an agreement to keep his mouth shut.
Yeah, I disagree, lol. I don’t think there’s anyway Uncle Gary talks to the press without Carole giving him the go-ahead. he has run to the press before and has still been invited to events like Kate’s wedding and Pippa’s wedding. He wasn’t even told about this wedding, and I’m sure it wasn’t planned in a week with all the international guests.
his interviews are so strongly pro-Middleton (which I would expect) but so closely align with the pro-Kate talking points on twitter and elsewhere that I just don’t buy they’re not sanctioned by the Middletons. They like him out there talking about how perfect Kate is and how she needs to be queen NOW. It suits their agenda.
But its clear this time he overplayed his hand.
Lol, of course he’s their mouthpiece. The Middletons and Gary have been close for years, William used his villa and yacht, and if they wanted him to be quiet and told him to be, he would. He’s been blabbering about Kate and Pippa and Carole and how fabulous and sweet and sexy and slim they are for years.
KP and Carole Jenner practically wrote his scripts for him. Tabloids wouldn’t even publish his words without a palace sanction. He’d be in the same media blackout as anyone who wrote about Pedo Andy or Rose Hambury.
Yeah, if the Midds didn’t sanction it, they certainly could have leaked to the press that they were/are horrified by what Gary is saying. They kept silent while he gave MULTIPLE interviews including one where he said the crown should skip Charles. Either the Midds sanctioned it or they agreed with what he said and saw no need to tell him to shut up or leak to the press about how appalled they are.
I’m willing to believe Uncle Hookers and Blow got thrown under the bus for his ridiculous interviews. I’m also willing to believe Wills made Gary’s absence a condition of attendance.
But adding to theories, I think it’s also possible maybe someone connected with the venue set Covid rules that Gary didn’t meet. Perhaps mandated vaccination for adults, which Gary doesn’t have? I can see him vacationing in the area because he plans to attend, then getting a call that the venue won’t allow him in.
Perhaps that’s why it’s been negatively spun by him- he’s mad the Midds chose this place that wouldn’t let him in.
I think he stayed home because Will didn’t come and the only way the separation works is if no one knows. This will be the way it goes from now on. Will won’t attend anything and there will be no pictures with the midds. Carole went too far with the better mom than Diana.
Oh this is an interesting theory. But the other guests would know. Maybe they signed NDAs to attend? And Gary would never so they didn’t invite him.
Or maybe they just trust the other guests not to run to the press, but they know Gary would?
Someone theorized up top that perhaps Gary is running out of money and no use anymore. Maybe that’s true and he’s runnning to the press for cash. Perhaps his outlandish interviews weren’t authorized but meant to get hush money from Wills in addition to tabloid money for his nonsense.
This is honestly why I think William was in attendance, just because it would be hard to shut down every bit of gossip that would leak out if he wasn’t. But maybe enough guests there know what’s going on that it wouldn’t raise any red flags for them? Or maybe there was a NDA like you theorized?
I doubt the small, intimate wedding guests would spill to the tabloids that Will wasn’t there. Or even if they did, that the tabloids would print it. The British media is protecting William. They know about his affairs and maybe some other whopper of a secret that seems to be increasingly hinted at lately. The aristos know that Will is a cheater but they don’t go to the press every day to try and get it in print.
Plus we know that the media is forced to keep quiet about William because of his legal threats. I don’t think Will was there, or if he was he helicoptered in separately and stayed for a couple of hours and left. Maybe he stayed inside the chateau holding court and not mixing while the party went on outside. Who knows. But until I see Will’s face in the pictures I’m going to assume he was not there for the whole event.
It’s possible Uncle Gary does not know the extent to which Carole has been sidelined and Carole needs to keep up appearance where Uncle Gary is concerned.
Becks- good points
I suppose the RRs could know and be keeping a lid on Will’s absence. Unless some rando posts it on Twitter, the invisible contract could cover Wills absence. And Gary, if he knew, wouldn’t allow for the contract. Gary might insist on doing an interview about how evil Charles is hating on the Middletons because they’re Will’s true family, and he insisted Will not go to James’ wedding. Thus Charles’ snobby butt needs to be skipped as king for Will and Kate.
But I think truth is Will was there and we haven’t seen pics because he doesn’t want them released. Or is so strained with Kate he wouldn’t take any.
ETA- Harper’s comments could be right as well. Especially the last two paragraphs.
Harper, re: your first paragraph, do yhusband’s. think this wedding was full of aristos? I don’t think James runs in Wills’ circle. I thought that was Pippa and Kate, looking for husbands.
I’m now inclined to think that William did a bare minimum attendance and went to the ceremony and not much else so that the other guests not in the immediate family would not have much to say. Because his absence would be obvious and hard to hide and they wouldn’t be able to control all the guests from keeping quiet on it. And this would also explain why uncle Gary wasn’t invited.
@Rapunzel I do not think there were aristos at James’ wedding. The Middletons aren’t part of that circle and Alizee probably doesn’t care. I meant that the aristos know, in general, what Will’s been up to for a while in regard to his rose gardening, possibly his legal briefings, but they keep it to the dinner table/house party gossip circuit. They don’t try and out Will to the tabloid press. Actually, we have a lot of hints that the tabloid press does know what Will is really doing but can’t spill. Possibly Will wasn’t there, but the guests believe he was and they just “didn’t get to see him.”
@Rapunzel I think if Uncle Gary realizes Kate is on the way out, he stops financing Carole’s lifestyle. He can’t find out Will is really going to get rid of Kate and Kate can’t afford to have any bad press bc she needs the settlement money.
@Harper that’s a good point that even if someone there did want to leak it (if William wasn’t there), its not automatic that they could find a tabloid etc that would print it, especially if we assume that all the RRs already know about the separate lives etc.
So my current guesses are that William did not attend, or he did attend but very briefly (maybe stopped in for the ceremony on his way to somewhere else in france as part of their neverending vacation) and so there are no pictures.
I don’t know smart it would be on the Middleton’s part to alienate Dodgy Uncle Gary if he knows where all the bodies are buried, so I’m gonna say he didn’t attend for another reason. On an unrelated note, he needs a look that doesn’t say ‘Scammy Rene Angelil’.
James Middleton’s new wife is pulling the strings here. She and her family are richer and smarter than the whole of the Middletons. I wonder what made her to fall in love with James? James is a good guy but when it comes to his wife I find him lacking. Am I being too harsh here?
The guys a lowlife jerk but that’s a really brazen snub, especially since he’s been saying all kinds of anti-Sussex stuff in the press for them. They’re all so awful. They could have tucked him away at some Siberia table and no one would have cared. Oh well.
We’re assuming the Middletons big footed their way in. But the bride’s family traditionally hosts the wedding. Alizee’s mother is alive and, while Alizee’s family is low key, she has posted some photos of her mom Laurence and they seem close. I imagine that Laurence had a lot of input into the guests, venue, location (France vs UK) and planned it with their daughter. I hope they told Carole ‘here’s the time and place. And your drug dealing, loose lipped brother isn’t coming’. Just because she wore Carole’s dress doesn’t mean she was intimately involved. As people have said, it fit the vibe and maybe she thought James would like it. I feel for Alizee that her father died earlier in the year.