Carole Middleton#Early life

{{infobox person

| name = Carole Middleton

| image = Carole Elizabeth Middleton on the balcony of Buckingham Palace.jpg| caption = Middleton in 2011

| spouse = {{marriage|Michael Middleton|21 June 1980}}

| citizenship = United Kingdom

| occupation = Businesswoman

| children = {{plain list|

}}

| birth_name = Carole Elizabeth Goldsmith

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|df=yes|1955|1|31}}

| birth_place = Perivale, London, England

| family = Middleton

| relatives = Gary Goldsmith (brother)

| education = Featherstone High School

}}

Carole Elizabeth Middleton (née Goldsmith; born 31 January 1955){{citation|url=http://www.ealinggazette.co.uk/ealing-news/royalwedding/2011/05/03/kate-middleton-s-mum-s-old-school-hosts-royal-wedding-party-64767-28626321 |journal=Ealing Gazette |title=Kate Middleton's mum's old school hosts Royal Wedding party |date=3 May 2011 |first=Poppy |last=Bradbury |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120321165710/http://www.ealinggazette.co.uk/ealing-news/royalwedding/2011/05/03/kate-middleton-s-mum-s-old-school-hosts-royal-wedding-party-64767-28626321/ |archive-date=21 March 2012 }} is an English businesswoman. She is the mother of Catherine, Princess of Wales, Philippa Matthews, and James Middleton.

Born in Perivale and brought up in Southall, London, Middleton was educated at Featherstone High School before working as a private secretary. She joined British Airways and worked as a flight attendant until her marriage to Michael Middleton, a member of the Middleton family.

Middleton founded Party Pieces, a mail-order party-supply company, in 1987. Her first three grandchildren, Prince George, Princess Charlotte, and Prince Louis, are second, third, and fourth in line to the British throne, respectively. The Middleton family resides at Bucklebury Manor, in Berkshire.

Family background and early life

Carole Elizabeth Goldsmith was born on 31 January 1955 in Perivale, London, the daughter of Ronald (1931–2003) and Dorothy Goldsmith (née Harrison; 1935–2006), great-granddaughter of Jane Harrison (née Liddle; {{circa}}1839–1881) whose great-great-grandfather was aristocrat Sir Thomas Conyers, 9th Baronet.{{cite news |last1=Graham |first1=H. |title=The surprising link the Queen and the Duchess of Cambridge share to Gateshead |url=https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/surprising-link-queen-duchess-cambridge-20052770 |access-date=6 March 2024 |publisher=Trinity Mirror North East |date=11 March 2021 |quote=But another branch of the Blakison family would eventually wind its way down to Sir Thomas Blakiston Conyers, himself a descendent of King Edward IV, and the great-great-grandfather of Jane Liddle, herself the great-great-grandmother of Kate's mother, Carole Middleton [and her brother Gary]...}}{{cite web|first=Christopher C.|last=Child|title=A Gratifying Discovery: Connecting Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, to Sir Thomas Conyers, 9th Bt. of Horden, Durham|url=http://www.americanancestors.org/uploadedFiles/American_Ancestors/Content/Publications/American_Ancestors_Magazine/Magazine_PDFs/12-4_lores.pdf|pages=35–36|work=American Ancestors|publisher=New England Historic Genealogical Society|date=Fall 2011|access-date=10 November 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131004215237/http://www.americanancestors.org/uploadedFiles/American_Ancestors/Content/Publications/American_Ancestors_Magazine/Magazine_PDFs/12-4_lores.pdf|archive-date=4 October 2013|url-status=live}}{{cite web |title=Kate Middleton |url=https://people.com/tag/kate-middleton/ |website=People |access-date=25 May 2021 |archive-date=4 October 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161004113202/https://people.com/tag/kate-middleton/ |url-status=live }}{{cite magazine |last1=Nicholl |first1=Katie |title=Meet The Parents |url=https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2011/04/meet-the-middletons-201104 |magazine=Vanity Fair |access-date=25 May 2021 |archive-date=12 April 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150412193948/https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2011/04/meet-the-middletons-201104 |url-status=live }}

Her father was a craftsman decorator, while her mother worked as a part-time jeweller.{{cite web |last1=Crothers |first1=Jen |title=Carole Middleton opens up about her passion for her business |url=https://www.goodhousekeeping.com/uk/lifestyle/a35693403/carole-middleton/ |website=Good Housekeeping |date=3 March 2021 |access-date=24 January 2023 |archive-date=24 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230124045126/https://www.goodhousekeeping.com/uk/lifestyle/a35693403/carole-middleton/ |url-status=live }} She spent her early years in council housing in Ealing before moving to a small Victorian apartment in Southall, West London, attending the local High School. She is the older sister of IT recruitment multi-millionaire businessman Gary Goldsmith.{{cite news|last1=Tominey|first1=Camilla|title=Is Gary Goldsmith really the Black Sheep of the Middleton family?|url=http://www.express.co.uk/news/royal/386531/Is-Gary-Goldsmith-really-the-Black-Sheep-of-the-Middleton-family|newspaper=UK Express|date=24 March 2013|access-date=29 November 2014|archive-date=15 April 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190415151717/https://www.express.co.uk/news/royal/386531/Is-Gary-Goldsmith-really-the-Black-Sheep-of-the-Middleton-family|url-status=live}}{{cite book|last1=Smith|first1=Sean|title=Kate: A Biography of Kate Middleton|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QwIXG7EbQ5cC&q=carole+middleton+council+flat+own+home+southall&pg=PT17|publisher=First Gallery Books|year= 2011|chapter= Chapter 1|page= Page 2|isbn=9781451661569|access-date=29 November 2014|quote=Eventually Dorothy and Ron moved into a council flat nearby before borrowing the deposit to buy a small house of their own in Southall, where they were living when Carole was born in 1955.}}{{cite web|url=http://brit-asian.com/2011/19/04/news-kate-middletons-southall-connections/|title=News: Kate Middleton's Southall connections|publisher=brit-asian.com|access-date=6 May 2011|archive-date=14 August 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170814015608/http://brit-asian.com/2011/19/04/news-kate-middletons-southall-connections/|url-status=dead}}

She initially left school aged 16, but soon returned and achieved four A Levels. She originally planned on being a teacher, but has stated that "my parents couldn't afford to send me to teacher training college". She subsequently worked as a shop assistant for John Lewis before being hired as a secretary for British Airways. She then transferred to ground crew and by her marriage in 1980 was working as a flight attendant.{{cite web |last1=Wood |first1=M. |title=The ancestry of Catherine (Kate) Middleton |url=http://www.wargs.com/other/middleton2.html |publisher=William Addams Reitwiesner & Michael J. Wood |access-date=24 July 2019 |quote=Carole Elizabeth Goldsmith, b. Perivale Maternity Hospital, Perivale, Middlesex, 31 Jan. 1955 [entry no. 82], in 1980 a stewardess |archive-date=18 August 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190818200244/http://www.wargs.com/other/middleton2.html |url-status=live }}

Career

In 1987, Middleton established Party Pieces, a company that began by making party bags and which then sold party supplies and decorations by mail order. Middleton first began the business "at her kitchen table" and distributed thousands of leaflets to advertise locally.{{cite web |title=Decoding Carole Middleton, Britain's Second Most Famous Grandmother |url=https://www.vogue.co.uk/article/decoding-carole-middleton-britains-second-most-famous-grandmother |website=Vogue UK |date=5 December 2018 |access-date=14 January 2021 |archive-date=15 January 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210115172220/https://www.vogue.co.uk/article/decoding-carole-middleton-britains-second-most-famous-grandmother |url-status=live }} Her husband quit his job at British Airways to join her at the company in 1989.{{cite news |title=Exclusive: Carole Middleton: 'My biggest fear was that I'd lose my family, but we've stayed close' |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/life/exclusive-carole-middleton-biggest-fear-lose-family-stayed-close/ |website=The Telegraph |date=December 2018 |access-date=14 January 2021 |archive-date=26 January 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210126004831/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/life/exclusive-carole-middleton-biggest-fear-lose-family-stayed-close/ |url-status=live |last1=Armstrong |first1=Lisa }} In 1995, the firm's growth necessitated its headquarters be moved to a range of farm buildings at Ashampstead Common.Party Pieces Princess in News of the World (21 November 2010), pg. 4{{cite web |url=http://www.partypieces.co.uk/about-us/ |title=About us |website=partypieces.co.uk |access-date=19 February 2011 |archive-date=13 May 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120513232757/http://www.partypieces.co.uk/about-us/ |url-status=live }} Party Pieces was sold in May 2023 after it fell into administration.{{cite web|url=https://news.sky.com/story/princess-of-waless-parents-party-supplies-firm-sold-after-brush-with-insolvency-12883612|title=Princess of Wales's parents' party supplies firm sold after brush with insolvency|work=Sky News|first=Mark|last=Kleinman|date=18 May 2023|access-date=18 May 2023|archive-date=18 May 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230518193400/https://news.sky.com/story/princess-of-waless-parents-party-supplies-firm-sold-after-brush-with-insolvency-12883612|url-status=live}} The company owed £2.6 million to creditors when it collapsed, including £612,685 owed to HM Revenue and Customs, £218,749 owed to Royal Bank of Scotland for a Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan, and £20,430 to an Afghan refugee whose small business was a supplier of helium gas.{{cite web |title=Kate's parents' party firm leaves creditors £2.6m short after collapse |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/business/kate-s-parents-party-firm-leaves-creditors-ps2-6m-short-after-collapse-b2353810.html |website=The Independent |date=8 June 2023 |access-date=10 June 2023 |archive-date=9 June 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230609231037/https://www.independent.co.uk/business/kate-s-parents-party-firm-leaves-creditors-ps2-6m-short-after-collapse-b2353810.html |url-status=live }}{{cite web |title=Carole Middleton is 'desperately sad' as her party supplies business collapses |url=https://www.tatler.com/article/carole-and-michael-middleton-selling-business |website=Tatler |date=19 April 2023 |access-date=10 June 2023 |archive-date=10 June 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230610083119/https://www.tatler.com/article/carole-and-michael-middleton-selling-business |url-status=live }}{{Subscription required}}{{cite web |title='Middletons in their £5m home left me high and dry' |url=https://www.thetimes.com/uk/royal-family/article/the-middletons-fail-to-repay-debts-after-party-firm-goes-bust-xf887c6j9 |website=The Times |date=9 June 2023 |access-date=7 July 2023 |archive-date=7 July 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230707183134/https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/the-middletons-fail-to-repay-debts-after-party-firm-goes-bust-xf887c6j9 |url-status=live }} The company's administrator's report stated that unsecured creditors were unlikely to be paid.{{cite web |title=Statement of administrator's proposal |url=https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/12191766/filing-history |website=Companies House |access-date=10 June 2023 |archive-date=29 May 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230529112541/https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/12191766/filing-history |url-status=live }}

Personal life

Goldsmith married colleague, flight dispatcher Michael Middleton on 21 June 1980 at the Church of St James in Dorney, Buckinghamshire. Her husband descended from a prominent Yorkshire family with aristocratic roots; his grandmother Olive Middleton was a V.A.D. nurse alongside her second cousin Florence, Baroness Airedale.{{cite news |last1=Ward |first1=Victoria |title=Duchess of Cambridge reveals Red Cross nurse past of her grandmother|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/royal-family/2020/08/03/duchess-cambridge-reveals-red-cross-nurse-past-grandmother/ |access-date=19 March 2024 |publisher=UK Daily Telegraph |date=3 August 2020 |quote=In 1915, she [Olive Middleton] ticked "Miss" as her marital status and duly became a nurse, working at Gledhow Hall in Leeds, home to her second cousin Baroness Airedale and used as a VAD hospital, until 1917 before spending three months in 1918 at Roundhay Auxiliary Military Hospital}}{{cite news|last=Rayner|first=Gordon|title=Middle-class Duchess of Cambridge's relative wore crown and attended George Vs coronation.|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/kate-middleton/10307469/Middle-class-Duchess-of-Cambridges-relative-wore-crown-and-attended-George-Vs-coronation.html|quote=News – page 7; "(Michael Middleton's) ancestors were very much landed gentry, and as we now know some of them were titled...Baroness Airedale was the second cousin of Olive Middleton..." (Page 7) Middle-class Duchess of Cambridge's relative wore crown and attended George Vs coronation|newspaper=UK Daily Telegraph|access-date=14 May 2013|archive-date=26 April 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160426043340/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/kate-middleton/10307469/Middle-class-Duchess-of-Cambridges-relative-wore-crown-and-attended-George-Vs-coronation.html|url-status=live}}{{cite news |title="Life is Really Normal – Most of the Time". Carole Middleton on the Family Business |url=https://www.pressreader.com/uk/the-daily-telegraph-telegraph-magazine/20181201/282475709892582 |access-date=6 December 2018 |newspaper=UK Sunday Telegraph |date=3 December 2018 |archive-date=6 December 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181206150924/https://www.pressreader.com/uk/the-daily-telegraph-telegraph-magazine/20181201/282475709892582 |url-status=live }} The couple subsequently bought a Victorian house in Bradfield Southend near Reading, Berkshire.{{cite news|title=Royal wedding: Kate Middleton's family background|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/theroyalfamily/8136814/Royal-wedding-Kate-Middletons-family-background.html|work=The Daily Telegraph|access-date=4 May 2011|location=London|first=Gordon|last=Rayner|date=16 November 2010|archive-date=11 March 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110311123054/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/theroyalfamily/8136814/Royal-wedding-Kate-Middletons-family-background.html|url-status=live}} The Middletons had three children: Catherine (b. 9 January 1982), Philippa (b. 6 September 1983) and James (b. 15 April 1987.) The family moved to Jordan in 1984 before returning to West Berkshire, Bradfield Southend, in 1986.{{cite news|title=Duchess of Cambridge returns to St Andrew's School|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-berkshire-20555704|access-date=25 February 2016|quote=Catherine joined the school at four years old when her family returned to West Berkshire in 1986 after spending two-and-a-half years in Jordan.|work=BBC News|date=30 November 2012|archive-date=17 July 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160717163946/http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-berkshire-20555704|url-status=live}} In 1995, the Middletons purchased Oak Acre, a Tudor-style manor house in Bucklebury, Berkshire.{{cite book |last1=Andersen |first1=Christopher |title=William and Kate{{Snd}} A Royal Love Story |date=2011 |publisher=Simon & Schuster |isbn=9781451621457 |location=New York |page=77 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1M3oGZ7RRH8C&pg=PA77}} In 2002, Middleton and her husband bought "with cash" a flat in Chelsea, London, in which their children lived after completing their university studies.{{cite news|last1=Brennan|first1=Zoe|title=The family fortune of the minted Middletons|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/kate-middleton/8391216/The-family-fortune-of-the-minted-Middletons.html|newspaper=UK Daily Telegraph|date=19 March 2011|access-date=27 June 2015|quote=This (flat) was bought with cash for £780,000 in 2002 and is worth some £1.2 million now (in 2011). Land Registry records show there is no mortgage on it.|archive-date=3 July 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150703194858/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/kate-middleton/8391216/The-family-fortune-of-the-minted-Middletons.html|url-status=live}} The flat was sold for £1.88 million in 2019.{{cite web |title=Kate Middleton and sister Pippa's £1.88million flat they lived in for free |url=https://www.hellomagazine.com/homes/20210703116676/kate-pippa-middleton-shared-flat-london-photos/ |website=Hello! |date=3 July 2021 |access-date=10 June 2023 |archive-date=10 June 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230610085017/https://www.hellomagazine.com/homes/20210703116676/kate-pippa-middleton-shared-flat-london-photos/ |url-status=live }}

In 2011, her daughter, Catherine, married Prince William at Westminster Abbey.{{cite web |title=Royal wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton, in pictures |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/royal-family/0/royal-wedding-prince-william-kate-middleton-pictures/ |website=The Telegraph |access-date=24 January 2023 |archive-date=24 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230124044738/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/royal-family/0/royal-wedding-prince-william-kate-middleton-pictures/ |url-status=live }} The gold chevron on the coat of arms commissioned by her husband that year is in reference to Middleton's maiden name of Goldsmith.{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2011/apr/19/middleton-coat-of-arms-symbolism|title=Kate Middleton's coat of arms blends in-jokes, symbolism and history|newspaper=The Guardian|access-date=6 May 2011|location=London|first=Stephen|last=Bates|date=19 April 2011|archive-date=5 November 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131105042601/http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2011/apr/19/middleton-coat-of-arms-symbolism|url-status=live}} She has seven grandchildren Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis of Wales, Arthur Michael, Grace Elizabeth Jane and Rose Matthews, as well as James' son Inigo.{{cite web |last1=Silvia |first1=Erin |title=Kate Middleton's Mom Carole Teases Grandkids George, Louis & Charlotte Will Pumpkin Carve For Halloween |url=https://www.msn.com/en-us/entertainment/entertainment-celebrity/kate-middletons-mom-carole-teases-grandkids-george-louis-and-charlotte-will-pumpkin-carve-for-halloween/ar-AA12KqsJ |website=MSN |access-date=24 January 2023 |archive-date=24 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230124044739/https://www.msn.com/en-us/entertainment/entertainment-celebrity/kate-middletons-mom-carole-teases-grandkids-george-louis-and-charlotte-will-pumpkin-carve-for-halloween/ar-AA12KqsJ |url-status=live }} In 2012, the family bought Bucklebury Manor, in Bucklebury, West Berkshire – a Grade II listed Georgian manor house set on over 18 acres.{{cite magazine |last1=Nicholl |first1=Katie |title=Curious About George |url=https://www.vanityfair.com/style/2013/10/kate-middleton-post-baby-life |magazine=Vanity Fair |date=18 September 2013 |access-date=29 June 2021 |archive-date=27 July 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210727015328/https://www.vanityfair.com/style/2013/10/kate-middleton-post-baby-life |url-status=live }}

The Middleton family's wealth is the result of their business combined with the trust funds inherited from Olive Christiana Middleton (née Lupton), who the BBC reported in 2011 as being Michael Middleton's aristocrat grandmother.{{cite news|title=Royal wedding: Family tree|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-13050232|work=BBC News|location=UK|date=13 April 2011|access-date=30 April 2015|quote=He (R. Noel Middleton) attended Clifton College in Bristol as a boarder before heading to Leeds University and qualifying as a solicitor. He met and married aristocrat Olive Christiana Lupton.|archive-date=5 April 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150405183945/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-13050232|url-status=live}} This wealth has resulted in the Middletons being reported to be multi-millionaires.{{cite web|last1=A Photographic Archive of Leeds|first1=Leodis|title=Potternewton Hall, Potternewton Lane|url=http://www.leodis.net/display.aspx?resourceIdentifier=20081113_167864&DISPLAY=FULL|publisher=UK Gov. City of Leeds|access-date=12 November 2014|quote=When Olive Middleton died in 1936, her will shows that she left a personal estate of £52,031. Olive's will also discloses that by 1936 there were three separate family trusts in operation controlling the bulk of her and her family's fortune|archive-date=16 October 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171016001301/http://www.leodis.net/display.aspx?resourceIdentifier=20081113_167864&DISPLAY=FULL|url-status=live}}{{cite news|last1=Lewis|first1=Jason|title=How a Victorian industrialist helped Kate Middleton's parents|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/royal-wedding/8164731/How-a-Victorian-industrialist-helped-Kate-Middletons-parents.html|newspaper=UK Daily Telegraph|date=27 November 2010|access-date=12 November 2014|quote=By 1936 there were three separate family trusts in operation controlling the bulk of her and her family's fortune|archive-date=5 July 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150705135512/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/royal-wedding/8164731/How-a-Victorian-industrialist-helped-Kate-Middletons-parents.html|url-status=live}}{{cite news|url=http://news.scotsman.com/princewilliam/Generation-whyshouldI.4176797.jp|title=Generation why-should-I?|publisher=News.scotsman.com|access-date=4 May 2011|location=Edinburgh|archive-date=4 May 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110504173642/http://news.scotsman.com/princewilliam/Generation-whyshouldI.4176797.jp|url-status=live}}