Mockery, media attacks, and a shocking diagnosis: Carole and Michael Middleton's story proves that life isn't always easy when you've hit the royal jackpot.
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00:00Mockery, media attacks, and a shocking diagnosis, Carole and Michael Middleton's story proves
00:06that life isn't always easy when you've hit the royal jackpot.
00:10In the tabloids, Carole and Michael Middleton are often portrayed as a typical middle-class
00:14couple.
00:15The reality is, though, that Princess Catherine lived a pretty lavish life before marrying
00:19Prince William.
00:20Her parents sent her to pricey boarding schools and housed her in a 1.5 million pound home.
00:25Carole and Michael could afford a comfortable lifestyle after launching their party decoration
00:29business in 1987, but they also sat on a comfortable family inheritance.
00:33But this inheritance had a dark side.
00:35The Middletons were able to found their company and fund their children's education because
00:39of a trust fund that had been set up generations before.
00:42Apparently, Catherine's great-great-grandfather, Francis Lupton, came into a million pound
00:47fortune that he'd expected to split among his five children.
00:50During World War I, however, all three of Frank's sons were killed.
00:54Only his two daughters, Olive and Anne Lupton, survived to inherit the money.
00:58Their share was worth over two million pounds in today's currency.
01:02Anne Lupton never married, meaning that what was left of her fortune was also passed on
01:06to Olive's children, including Catherine's grandfather.
01:09Although this money was eventually able to benefit the Middleton children, its roots
01:12are profoundly tragic.
01:14In many ways, Carole and Michael Middleton benefited from an old money fortune.
01:18However, this did not prevent Prince William's friends from mocking them for their lower
01:22social standing.
01:23Unlike many members of the British upper crust, Carole and Michael had neither titles nor
01:27a historic family home.
01:29In fact, Carole Middleton was famously descended from James Harrison, a coal miner based in
01:34northern England.
01:35When the prince started dating the future Princess Catherine, his circle was quite ruthless
01:39in their treatment of his middle-class girlfriend.
01:41Many of his friends were particularly snobbish about the fact that Catherine's mother had
01:45previously worked as a flight attendant.
01:47Royal expert Katie Nicholl explained on Vanity Fair's Dynasty podcast that, when Kate would
01:51go clubbing with William in London, they'd all whisper,
01:55to each other.
01:56Well, obviously, that is a bit of a put-down.
01:59It's a bit of a derogatory reference to Carole's career as an air hostess."
02:06Prince William's posh friends weren't the only people who disparaged the Middletons
02:09for their middle-class background.
02:11The British press was arguably no better.
02:13During William and Princess Catherine's courtship, many commentators argued that Carole and Michael
02:17Middleton were not classy enough to be the parents of a future queen consort.
02:21One piece in the Daily Mail even quoted a courtier who said,
02:24"[Put bluntly, the queen seems to like Kate's father, Michael, but the courtier's sense
02:28that there are big question marks over the mother.
02:30She is pushy, rather twee and incredibly middle-class."
02:33Following William and Catherine's temporary breakup in 2007, royal commentator James Whitaker
02:38described the match as a mistake in an article for The Mirror.
02:41His justification?
02:42Carole and Michael were not from a good enough family to produce a future queen.
02:46He wrote,
02:47"[Kate, delightful as she might be, was not from suitable stock to be our future queen.
02:51I just believe that evolving from a middle-class background is hardly the best training to
02:54becoming Her Majesty."
02:56As if all the bad press was not humiliating enough, the Middletons were portrayed quite
03:01negatively on Netflix's The Crown.
03:02The series dedicated much of its sixth season to Prince William and Princess Catherine's
03:06relationship.
03:08Carole Middleton's character made several appearances, as played by Eve Best.
03:12Unfortunately, her portrayal was not particularly flattering.
03:15Throughout season six, Carole Middleton's character seems very invested in climbing
03:19the social ladder.
03:20In one scene, she tells a young Catherine how excited she was when she met her future
03:23husband, as his grandmother had known the queen's aunt.
03:26"...I felt like the luckiest woman in the world."
03:29Unfortunately, this depiction of Carole as a pushy, status-obsessed mother is not necessarily
03:33faithful to reality.
03:34The Crown, after all, is fiction, even if some people believe everything they see on
03:39the show.
03:40In 2020, Princess Diana's brother Charles Spencer said,
03:42"...I find Americans tell me they have watched The Crown as if they have taken a history
03:46lesson.
03:47Well, they haven't."
03:48Perhaps the most shocking invasion of Carole Middleton's privacy was carried out by the
03:52British tabloids.
03:53The mother-of-three has suffered considerably at the hands of the media.
03:56She has been stalked by the paparazzi, mocked by tabloid journalists, and even hacked by
04:01a major media organization.
04:03In 2014, the Daily Mail reported that the News of the World had hacked Carole's phone
04:07as part of an attempt to gain insight into the lives of British royals.
04:11Carole was far from the only victim of this strategy, too.
04:14Journalists hacked Princess Catherine's phone 155 times, while Prince William was hacked
04:1935 times.
04:21Although it's unclear whether any of the contents of Carole's phone were used to inform News
04:25of the World articles, the fallout of the hacking scandal led to the outing of private
04:29and sensitive information, much of which revolved around the Middletons and their daughter.
04:35Carole and Michael Middleton have always been huge fans of the Christmas holiday.
04:38As the former owners of a party business, they reveled in decorating their home.
04:42For some years, they've even been known to purchase multiple Christmas trees.
04:46Writing on her Party Pieces Instagram in 2021, Carole shared,
04:49"...once again this year we plan to have two Christmas trees, one for the children to decorate
04:53and one which I do myself."
04:55Despite the Middletons' enthusiasm for the holiday season, they haven't always been invited
04:59to spend Christmas with their grandchildren.
05:01As mandated by royal protocol, Prince George, Princess Charlotte, and Prince Louis have
05:05historically spent Christmas at Sandringham with their late great-grandmother, Queen Elizabeth
05:09II.
05:10Unfortunately, Carole and Michael were rarely included in the festivities at Sandringham,
05:14although they have been invited to join the royals at St. Mary Magdalene Church for Christmas
05:18morning service.
05:19This goes to show just how much the Middletons have had to sacrifice in order to see their
05:23daughter take the crown.
05:25The Middletons' Party Pieces business was successful for years.
05:28"...and it was a very clever idea.
05:30It filled a gap.
05:31This is a very affluent area, and there were lots of children, lots of people in the area
05:35that just wanted that service."
05:37Things went downhill when the company started operating at a loss, accruing hundreds of
05:41thousands of pounds in debt.
05:43The trouble reportedly began back in 2019, when Carole decided to step away from her
05:47company's day-to-day operations.
05:49She reportedly placed control of the business into the hands of a management team that did
05:53not necessarily act responsibly.
05:56Before long, Party Pieces began to accrue debt, and as the pandemic set in, the enterprise
06:00accepted a £219,000 COVID-19 loan from the Royal Bank of Scotland.
06:05This, in turn, caused something of a scandal, as the money offered by RBS had been funded
06:10by British taxpayers.
06:11One source close to the situation told The Standard,
06:14"...it definitely doesn't reflect well on the royals, but Kate will mostly just be worried
06:17about her mother, as the two have always been incredibly close.
06:21Carole will be working hard to put this right."
06:24Despite the Middletons' effort to rectify the situation with their failing company,
06:27Party Pieces officially went out of business during the summer of 2023.
06:31According to a report in the Daily Mail, by the time the company had officially failed,
06:35its debts had totaled a staggering £2.6 million.
06:39For Carole Middleton, in particular, this was devastating.
06:42A friend told the outlet,
06:43"...Carole is understandably upset and deeply disappointed in this situation."
06:47Although Carole largely blamed outside managers for the failure of her company, she had to
06:51admit that it was her responsibility for having hired them in the first place.
06:54As the same friend told the Daily Mail,
06:56"...Carole believes in accountability and accepts she had been a little naive to step back and
07:01trust someone else to run the business she had spent decades nurturing, and it's been
07:04desperately sad to see the company sold off in this way."
07:07In the end, Carole and Michael were forced to sell their business.
07:10After searching for the right buyer, Carole decided to sign a deal with the Teddytastic
07:14Bear Company.
07:15Moreover, it was reported that the 12 employees who worked for Party Pieces were able to remain
07:20in their current positions.
07:22Carole and Michael, however, will be out of the business for good.
07:25Only the two eldest Middleton children have achieved any notable amount of fame.
07:29Princess Catherine is, of course, the Princess of Wales, while her younger sister, Pippa,
07:33was once ranked Britain's Most Desirable Single by Tatler.
07:37"...What is it about Pippa Middleton that we just can't get over?"
07:41The third Middleton child, James, has largely avoided the limelight, and he has also struggled
07:46considerably over the years.
07:47Writing for the Daily Mail in 2019, James described his battle with depression.
07:52He said,
07:53"...I know I'm richly blessed and live a privileged life, but it did not make me immune to depression.
07:57It is an illness, a cancer of the mind."
07:59For Carole and Michael Middleton, it would have been difficult to watch their son endure
08:03this mental illness.
08:04During the height of his struggles, James admitted he ignored his parents' messages
08:08of love and support.
08:09He revealed,
08:10"...I couldn't communicate, even with those I loved best, my family and close friends.
08:14Their anxious texts grew more insistent by the day, yet they went unanswered as I sank
08:18progressively deeper into a morass of despair."
08:20Luckily, Carole and Michael's youngest child was eventually able to seek psychological
08:25support.
08:26He said,
08:27"...I knew if I accepted help there would be hope.
08:28It was a tiny spark of light in the darkness."
08:31Less than a year after being forced to sell their company, Carole and Michael Middleton
08:35received the news no parent wants to hear.
08:37Their daughter, Princess Catherine, had been diagnosed with cancer.
08:41According to royal expert Jenny Bond, this diagnosis likely proved quite painful for
08:44the Middleton family.
08:46Speaking to The Mirror, Bond explained,
08:47"...we should also spare a thought for another mother in this, Carole Middleton.
08:51Catherine may be 42, but she is still Carole's little girl, and to watch her go through this
08:55and withstand the bullying pressure to explain must have been desperately upsetting."
08:59In the weeks following Catherine's diagnosis, Carole appeared to take on a greater role
09:03in her daughter's life, driving her around London and helping her take care of the kids.
09:08She's even made an effort to spend time with Prince William after he and Carole were spotted
09:11having a drink together in a pub.
09:13One Palace Insider told People magazine,
09:15"...her parents are an enduring factor in the upbringing of their grandchildren, and
09:19they will be a reassuring presence when she goes back to Windsor to recuperate."