I still think about that completely bizarre month in the fall of 2018 when suddenly the Duke and Duchess of Sussex were being ripped apart 24-7 in the media and just as suddenly, Carole Middleton gave like three or four major interviews. In retrospect, I absolutely believe that there was a tit-for-tat exchange with the media and the Middletons, plus I just think Carole wanted to sign her work. She wanted there to be no mistake that she was a big part of the campaign to destroy Meghan. Since then, Carole has been much more engaged with the media, posing for magazine covers and giving interviews with more frequency. Over the weekend, Carole sat down with the Daily Mail to promote Party Pieces. I don’t know which side is slumming – the Mail is so obviously sycophantic towards Carole, it reads as satire; on the other side, Carole clearly knows that this is all transactional and so she performs her role in the charade. You can read the full piece here. Some highlights from the interview:
Whether she thinks of retiring: ‘They say if you do a job you enjoy, you don’t work a day in your life, and I truly feel like that; even when it’s very busy,’ says Carole, who is announcing that the business, Party Pieces, is very much back with the launch of a new collection, promising enhanced ‘wow’ factor.
How she stays looking & feeling young: ‘I spend a lot of time with young people which can help keep anyone young! I hope I haven’t become set in my ways, which can perhaps age you. I like to hear about trends in fashion, sport and design.’
Party Pieces is doing fine during the pandemic: ‘We were very lucky in that we were able to keep trading; and while demand dropped for certain ranges such as hen parties, it grew for other pieces such as personalised cakes and balloon bouquets that people were sending straight to someone’s door. Our customers enjoy making a fuss of their loved ones whether they can do it in person or at a distance. Their creativity was inspiring. Now some parties are happening again and we have a lot of catching up to do. I think people are enjoying celebrations with a renewed appreciation of being together.’
On her profile of ‘mother of the future queen’ versus her life as a businesswoman: ‘For me, my personal and my business life are not two separate things; they are both an essential and interwoven part of who I am. My children inspired my business and have been involved from the start, and the success that we’ve had has helped us build the life we have currently. I feel incredibly fortunate to have found the professional fulfilment I always wanted.’
Mother & grandmother: ‘The only thing I can say about being a mother is how much I loved it and still do. Mike was a good hands-on father and we found a way to make business and family life work. I’m going to continue to live life to the fullest: spending quality time with my children and grandchildren, and growing my business to help me turn my ideas into realities.’
Her work ethic: ‘I remember my parents working hard to provide for us, and so it has always felt natural to me to do the same. My children continue to inspire me and, as they have grown up, our brand has evolved. From just selling children’s products in the early days, you can now buy one of our popular personalised cakes or balloon bouquets, we curate pieces for all kinds of celebrations, including milestone birthdays, anniversaries and graduations. Having a big family has made me think carefully about how children’s parties, for example, work from the point of view both of the children enjoying it and the parents organising it.’
Carole sprinkled references to various Party Pieces products throughout the interview, which comes across as pretty tacky when you think about it. I mean, a businesswoman is allowed to hype her company, of course. But Carole would have never had this kind of access or interest if her daughter was married to Bill Baldingham, the HR manager of an engineering firm. Given that Carole actually *is* the mother of the future queen, it does come across as a bit too… transactional and cheap.
Anyway, the news I found most interesting is that Carole has no plans to retire from Party Pieces. I would still be very interested in learning about what’s really going on financially, how much debt they’re carrying and what in God’s name was up with that grow operation.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid.
Certainly says I and Me alot.
One generally uses those words when being interviewed about oneself.
Yeah. A LOT.
Yes, including with respect to her husband. I may be parsing the language too closely, but note how carefully (?) she separates her and Michael. Her language would be totally appropriate for a separated couple. Not “we love being grandparents”, but I love, and Michael WAS a good father (grandfather not mentioned) .
“We FOUND a way to make it work..”. “I’m” looking forward to continue being a grandma…
Am I over-reading this?
Yes, I noticed the I and me thing as well. I found it particularly weird when she referred to her husband, Michael. She use the past tense when saying “He was a good father “then back to talking about just herself and the grandchildren again.
Kind of weird.
Where is Michael?
I’ve been asking that myself – Where is Michael???????
@ Seraphina : Historically Michael Middleton has always stayed in the background and Carole has done the talking. He seems to like it that way IMO. Carole seems to love being “the face” of Party Pieces and Michael says “Yeah, that’s not for me”. I’m an introvert and I totally understand this.
There were rumors years ago that she and Michael were separating and that was why Ma Carole was so determined to stay with Keen and Somewhatkeen and with newborn George. Since then he really hasn’t been seen a lot around his wife. There were some Wimbledon and church walk outings but for the most part, Michael has been pretty much MIA.
I just read all the “I and me” stuff as being a way of sounding more…upper class maybe? Since classism is even more linked to linguistics than it is here in the US.
Tacky and transactional is right.
No matter how many “interviews” CarolE gives, transactional or not, I *still* think that it’s a laundering front (or at least *was* a front) for Uncle Gary. No matter how PP tat was pushed with the “Royal Connection” it could NEVER do enough business to buy those multi-million dollar homes, the vacations, all the “wealth trappings” (like the London property the kids lived in) that allowed Kate, Pip, and James to move in the aristo circles (not that they were allowed to be truly “in”).
I also would like some follow up on the pot farm next door to the business. THAT was dropped in a NY minute!
Exactly what I was thinking, Jan. It’s a money laundering front, has to be.
For sure. There is something going on with PP’s finances. I get pumping up a business – she’s not going to admit in an interview that the pandemic hurt their business (although who is ordering personalized cakes from Party Pieces? I go to a local bakery or the local grocery store. and I feel like during the pandemic more people learned to bake.) And I can believe in the 80s and 90s Party Pieces was successful. But in the age of Amazon? when I look for party supplies now, I go to Walmart (closest to my house), Amazon, the local party store, or Etsy for bigger deal birthdays (first birthday etc.) I don’t know anyone who would order online from someplace that isn’t Amazon, Target, or etsy for something like this
So it definitely seems like something does not add up.
I agree with you all. This woman is such a pimp. Pimped out all her children to the highest bidder and her business to tabloids. Kris Jenner has nothing on her.
Cheap crap doesn’t make you this kind of money so either they have seriously over hyped their actual worth or they are fronting for something seriously illegal
Terrible. When I read her comments it sounded like one big Ad for Party Pieces.
As for her “specialized” PP cakes, I would be happy to tell her what she can do with her cakes, and it’s not nice and I don’t think I could ever eat another piece of cake in my life. But, FFS, it would be SO worth it!!!
She’s really pushing the personalized cakes and balloon bouquets.
Thank God, Ms Doria would never 😂🙏🏾😁….
Party Pieces still being in business during the times of Amazon, Card Factory etc is certainly impressive. Pity, she has raised nothing but dilettantes for children
Doria would never because Doria doesn’t run a business. Apples and oranges
Doria has her own yoga studio I believe.
Doria also doesn’t merch her connection to the royal family like Carole has done from the beginning of the dating days. So yes they are quite different.
If Doria ever wanted to speak to the press, she’d have Oprah at her door within the hour. She’d have any newspaper or magazine salivating on the phone in minutes.
She doesn’t talk for a lot of reasons, but lack of something to say ain’t it.
Let’s not pretend like those same tabloids interviewing Carole about paper plates, royalty and skinny motherhood wouldn’t destroy Doria in the press for doing anything remotely similar.
Doria would never because she doesn’t have a tit-for-tat with Rupert freaking Murdoch to destroy Black women’s reputations. Fixed it for you.
@ Royalle – Doria would never, period. The end. I think she has proven that by never talking to the press.
@Green Desert, what you said. Doria would never, period. Doria hasn’t spent the last few decades selling her daughter. CarolE’s ‘professional fulfillment’ is that.
She hustled hard to have her daughter be FFQ.
They must sell through Amazon right?
So it’s bad when Harry and Meghan are using their royal status to actually help causes and charities but it’s ok when CarolE is using her connection to royal family to promote her private party business? The same outlet will criticize H&M for business ventures and do the promotion interview with CarolE?
Side question: why is it spelled CarolE?
So Party Pieces is obviously still for sale-she’s hoping some clueless buyer will want the “cachet” of the name being Royal adjacent.
Good call!
Yes, this is the story that makes sense.
This makes the most sense. It’s like when celebs feature their homes in AD, right before they list it.
I agree with your take on it.
So Carole was definitely instrumental in the mail’s smear campaign against Meghan.
It’s interesting to see the contrast between Kate’s mother and Megan’s mother. Queen Doria has literally not breathed even a letter to any media outlet. Not one.
And yet Meghan is the opportunist.
And on the other hand we have Keen’s mother, Mother Keen, with her six tacky interviews.
To understand just how different the mothers are all you have to do is watch them during their daughters respective weddings. Carole knew her daughter was marrying a man that didn’t love her, knowing that her daughters predecessor was literally hounded to her death, and still sat their smug AF, like the cat that got the cream.
Doria knew her daughter was marrying a man that loved her completely but still looked worried and a little sad. I think she was happy Meghan was in love, but worried about what she was marrying into.
Do they really want people sniffing around their business? How on earth does that business survive with Amazon and other huge companies? I believe the interview was red meat to the DM to prevent them from investigating Party Pieces finances. Close inspection might not be too palatable for the business. They probably have an arrangement to do a series of interviews in exchange for no scrutiny. That may be the reason why Carole bashes the Sussexes. I think the RF and the Middletons are owned hook line and sinker by the tabloids.
I don’t understand who is even buying from this business. I don’t know anyone who has. There are so many places to buy the types of products they sell. Even the supermarkets have really good stuff. And how have they been fine during Covid? I don’t know anyone who’s had a big birthday party for their children, or even adults. It doesn’t make a lot of sense that they’re doing so well. Maybe they really are. Maybe they have a good business model. Maybe they’re just making out it’s successful when it really isn’t
I do not even understand why the supermarkets sell this “One Time Only Junk”. You can go to any dollar store (Dollar General, Family Dollar or Dollar Tree) in the USA and get all the perfectly fine one-use-only “party supplies” and/or “holiday trinkets” you could ever want let alone need for almost nothing.
If I wanted to keep my business finances on the down low, the last thing I would do is press interviews. It makes no sense that going public protects party pieces from scrutiny.
But as a “private company” its books are NOT open to scrutiny… isn’t that British law? We don’t and will never know its true financial “health”.
It does if you consider that the tabloid she’s talking to likely has the dirt on their allegedly shady revenue stream.
Exactly. It’s interesting how I’ve never heard anything about where the Party Pieces merch is manufactured – if the factories are in commonwealth countries do the middletons get extra points for exploiting their own citizens? Not to mention the eco ramifications of one-use plastic garbage, wonder if eco-warrior will has ever thought to raise that issue.
I still say this is a money laundering front. Nobody is actually buying this junk.
I’m very curious as to why she’s doing these interviews. It could be she wants to raise her profile or whatever but she hasn’t really done interviews before 2017/2018. So why didn’t she want to elevate her profile before? Is it to promote party pieces? That makes sense to me as I can see business falling with the rise of Amazon etc. Is it tit for tat as in “I’ll give interviews and you write about how my Kate is going to be the greatest queen ever!!1!!1!1”
But it’s funny how one of the monarchists biggest talking point about Kate was how her family has never spoken to the media or courted media attention (despite Gary speaking many times and Pippa’s attempts at being a socialite) is being deconstructed. It wasn’t even particular true to begin with but again, it’s funny how it’s happening.
And Carole definitely has a great work ethic. Wish she passed that onto her kids instead of telling them to marry well and that’s it.
Maybe by 2017/2018 the Rose Gardening had taken root and wasn’t going away so there was no more motivation to stay quiet? Maybe CarolE decided she could blow up Will’s game anytime she wanted to but instead she would just start talking to the press about herself a little more. CarolE definitely changed her game, that’s for sure.
I think this is a big part of it. Carole is doing the interviews for her own PR but also to tug at William’s leash a little – to let him and the royals know that she has media contacts too and if she wants to at any given point, she can say some unsavory things during one of these interviews.
I also think that Meghan’s entry into the family made a huge difference in how the Middletons operated, obviously, and i also think Phillip retiring made a difference. If he was the one saying “no interviews” and now he’s not paying attention (prior to his death of course), then why shouldn’t Carole get herself some publicity?
Party Pieces bough a bunch of tat from China that they need to move in the third quarter. Thanks to her “friendly” relationship with the Fail they agreed to give her some free ad space. I really don’t think it goes beyond that.
@Mac – for this interivew, maybe. But in general she has stepped up her interviewing over the past three years when she was pretty much radio silence for the first 5 or 6 years of the marriage. So something changed. Maybe the business started doing poorly so the interviews are part of the PR to boost sales and that’s all there is to it.
“Pippa’s attempts at being a socialite”
Nothing wrong with being a socialite and darling of Tatler if that is what you want to be. I think to try and fail, like Pippa, is better than to have not tried at all to gain something you want.
Best successful semi-royal example I can think of is Lady Amelia Windsor, daughter of the Earl of St. Andrews and granddaughter of the Duke of Kent.
I should have put “pathetic” in front of attempt. And it was pathetic because she was doing it so she could assimilate with a group of people who had spent years (even by that point) mocking her and her family. I wouldn’t want to chase after the approval of people like that but to each their own.
And I’m not in the target audience of Tatler so that’s my opinion and it will differ from what the aristos think.
Oh come on, being a socialite is a very empty, vain, materialistic, exploitative life.
But Lady Amelia has the “street cred” of being a royal, which Pippa does not. Pippa thought being royal adjacent through marriage would be the same as royal-adjacent through birthright. Unfortunately for her, it is not. Therefore, no title for Ole Pips.
So is she giving interviews in exchange for silence on her finances,silence for her part in attacking Meghan, as a means of deflecting from Rose bush rumours, or to cement herself in the public consciousness as the mother of a future monarch, or some combination of all these things? Or as a little reminder to William that she has friends in the press and a willingness to speak if he strays too far off the ranch?
But who reads these interviews…why are they news? It’s a poor bargain for the DM don’t you think?
The dim-witted deranged who drink up every little word about The Keenest-in-all-the-land, for one.
@Summerlover – I think there are women readers of the Daily Fail, The Slow and the Scum who know they will never be royal or aristocratic by marriage but believe they may have a chance to be Carole Middleton. Ma Middleton, like Kris Jenner, is clearly a role model for some people.
If Carole has really sold out to the Daily Fail, I hope she got a very good price.
Honestly, the same type of women who still read Women’s Day Magazine here in the States.
Omid called this out a couple of days ago and I cackled. Not even trying to hide how deep in the pockets of the DM the Middletons are. So many things are so obvious now.
I did find it interesting how Omid pointed out the obvious hypocrisy with Carole’s promotional interview.
Carole Middleton appears to be hand in glove with the Daily Fail. The article appeared and was heavily moderated and no negative comments. It was nothing but an advertisement for her company.
So is Carole back in Willyboy’s good graces? I noticed no digs at Diana this time.
Hey guys, do you think they sell personalized cakes and balloon bouquets???
No way they are doing a good business, but how nice to get all that free publicity to help sell it.
Ooh I don’t know, better look them up.
I chuckled at the reference to hen parties and the knowledge that the mother of the FFQ and grandmother of FFFK is presumably selling straws and inflatables and probably other bits too shaped like male genitalia. How regal.
The interview reads like an ad for Party Pieces. And to think that the press had all things to say when it was leaked that Doria was going to do an interview with Oprah. Turns out the real story was Oprah wanted to interview Meghan but KP threw Doria under the bus to cover their tracks.
I agree, this could be an article on cnn.com that tries to fool you into thinking you are reading something newsworthy, until the point you are thinking of adding CBD oil or skin care to a cart.
That first picture I really see the resemblance to Kate. For some reason I’d never really seen it before but it gives us a good idea of what Kate will look like in 20 or so years.
I also don’t understand how Party Pieces is surviving when people have Amazon, Etsy, and Pinterest at their disposal. They either have very loyal customers or it’s a whole bunch of shady over there.
Also don’t most bakeries do personalized cakes? Why would I call a party planning business for a cake? That to me makes no sense. But granted I checked out their website once briefly long ago and didn’t really look around.
I would never buy a cake from a mail order place that sells party decorations. They likely just contract out the cake to a real bakery and just charge you more.
You can go to the bakery section of most chain grocery stores and get a personalized cake if you don’t want to go to an actual bakery.
Say what you will, but Carole is not only a capable hussler, she us also the prettiest of the Middleton women.
Carole Middleton is like the sound of a silver spoon scraping against teeth. Ugh on so many levels.
I’m sure Uncle Hookers-n-Blow is still financing Carole’s business. He’s just as thirsty for a title as she is but I think he’s been warned off doing any more interviews. He’s gone strangely silent lately after all the bloviating about Kween Kate and King Baldingham leap-frogging over Charles to the throne. They really are such crass people.
Something is definitely up with all these exclusive interviews lately. Anyway, I find it hard to comprehend that her SIL is championing climate change and her company and its products are major contributors to the waste, plastics and pollution he is campaigning against. Where are the articles about this hypocrisy?
I think she’s getting as much mileage as she can because the gravy train is about to dry up. Will is going to divorce keen. He needs an asset not a marble-mouthed, mannequin. He is blaming Kate for his limited capabilities and lacking. Carole is scared and needs money and baldy isn’t giving them anymore funds
Only he thinks he can actually find an asset to marry him.
I’m not sure William understands what qualities to look for if he was to seek a replacement asset. And I’m pretty sure any woman who would be an asset wouldn’t want much to do with him based on his behavior the past few years.
Carole’s face and tan change every time I see her. There are days that she looks like a completely different person. I am not surprised her debt is growing. The Middletons upgraded to a mansion after Kate married William. They were well off but not that well off to afford that mansion.
I don’t know why they print an interview with the money grubbing Goldsmith-Middleton family or who in the world would even read it.
Carole obviously worked hard and hustled her whole young life to get where she is. I wonder why she didn’t want to pass along her work ethic to her children. I guess she really just romanticized being part of a leisure class and that’s all she wanted for her children. Did the father really just go along with that?
Because then her kids would be dependent on her for the rest of their lives.
No way. She hustled her way out of council housing. If she’d passed her work ethic along to her kids in addition to giving them top notch educations, the world would be their oyster. Instead, they are dependent, on her, on spouses . . . which must’ve been her end game, but I don’t get it. Typically, a hard working parent wants to see the same in their kids.
If they weren’t dependent on her, she wouldn’t be able to direct them and live vicariously through them. What if Kate and Pippa hadn’t wanted to marry men with titles or wealth, what would Carole do then?
OOOh, got it. That does seem to be the case, but boarding them off at good schools did run the risk of one of them developing a mind of their own. Thank goodness for Carole’s sake that didn’t happen.
Dependency is one of the features of an enmeshed family and the Middletons are deeply enmeshed. None of the children has achieved genuine adult independence. They are dysfunctional and Kate is the worst affected because there are expectations of her that she cannot meet.
I think it still stings for Carole that the Goldsmith/Middleton famili are still seen as social climbing trash..es
Well, there’s a solution to that.
Yes, including with respect to her husband. I may be parsing the language too closely, but note how carefully (?) she separates her and Michael. Her language would be totally appropriate for a separated couple. Not “we love being grandparents”, but I love, and Michael WAS a good father (grandfather not mentioned) .
“We FOUND a way to make it work..”. “I’m” looking forward to continue being a grandma…
Am I over-reading this?
@Duch – no, I was thinking the same thing about her description of Michael but also thought I was overreading it. But something in the way she says “he was a hands on father” just made it sound like he’s out of the picture at this point or something.
I think the Middletons have been broke for years , uncle coke bottle Gary kept them afloat and then Willy took over. Why else would millionaires need their daughter husband to help them buy a house? Then Willy kind of stopped but that was fine because pippa terribly Rich husband started to give them money. Now I think he is tired of it or pippa is tired of helping out mummy who only talks about Kate .wonder his much James wife family is having to contribute to belong.
Certainly she won’t. Her parents worked hard, she and hubby worked hard (running a business and nabbing a prince simultaneously isn’t an easy job guys) but failed to give that work ethic in any of her three kids. Someone has to keep the machines running.
I always feel like I’m missing something royal-wise, but I couldn’t find anything wrong with anything she said here? As for taking advantage of being royal adjacent … why would you not? It’s not like she’s Meghan’s idiot family throwing daggers at anyone, she’s just talking about her business and her family. One royal thing I see on here and do get is that Meghan’s father and sister are terrible people, and I feel so bad for her. But Carole here just strikes me as a business woman hyping her business and caring about her kids and grandkids at nobody’s expense. I can’t be mad at that.
Carole has made very pointed remarks criticizing Meghan and Harry in interviews and all this interview is is more evidence how she is in bed with the press.
The Middletons have more privileges and seek more attention than any of the families of any other married-ins ever did.
I’ll have to take your word for that because I don’t keep up enough I guess. But this right here seems fine to me. I haven’t seen anything that she’s said about Harry & Meghan, so all I’m going by is this here. If she’s in bed with the press … what famous person isn’t?
That’s the point, why is she famous? She’s done nothing except push her daughter into this life and ride those coattails. William married her daughter not her, so why she should be giving multiple interviews is beyond me. Her company is super shady on the financial details and is probably kept afloat by data selling and contributions from William.
Her brother also has no qualms with trashing the Sussexes.
Why are any of these people famous? But they are. I didn’t create the monarchy, it just is what it is. She’s famous because her daughter’s famous, her daughter’s famous because she married into royalty, and royalty are famous because … ??? They just are I guess. I don’t know what real purpose they ultimately serve tbh. I’m more interested in what she said about Meghan and Harry. I could take issue with that, but I’m not mad at her for taking advantage of being royally adjacent. What business owner wouldn’t? Honestly, I think, just from what I know of her, she seems to be doing something more than most of the royal family by starting and running a business. I’m not on a side here, I’m just reading straight from here. But again, if she’s talked ish about Harry and Meghan, that’s bs – I just haven’t seen that.
ETA – I don’t mean ‘that’s bs’ to say she DIDN’T. I meant to say if she has, THAT’S bs. I don’t like seeing Harry or Meghan dragged.
For someone who created a business it is rather odd that her daughters were encouraged to marry up rather than doing much work. I think she’d be the type to side with william rather than Kate should the marriage fail though.
Carole made a sarcastic comment about there is more to being royal than making speeches, a direct reference to Meghan’s public speaking skills and her daughter’s inability to do so.
The extent that she is in bed with the press, the Daily Fail, in particular will all be revealed one day.
Hmmm.. so many defending ma middleton.
We, for the past years had been discussing the vitriol of hatred from BM and kept finding some of the sources were from keen’s family.
1. Uncle Gary had series of interviews demeaning Meghan’s credibility.
2. Carole digs about meghan in her past interviews from the same reporters that hounding and wrote hate about meghan.
3. So much more.