The Family and Background of the Princess of Wales, the Middletons 2, 2022 -


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Certainly, although it is a bit tragic selling the company given Carole started the company when she was looking for inspiration for Kate's fifth birthday party
 
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/ar...arty-business-collapsed-debts-2-6million.html

The DM speaks to creditors owed thousands after the collapse of Party Pieces.


Take, for example, Sultani Gas, a Kent-based company that supplied Party Pieces with helium for its balloons. It’s currently owed £20,430, according to the administrator’s report.

A spokesman said this week that they felt ‘betrayed’ by Mrs Middleton. ‘What hurt me the most was that I trusted her as the mother-in-law of the future King and she just betrayed me,’ the representative said. ‘It is absolutely unacceptable.’

Take also the firm’s landlord, Lord Iliffe, on whose Yattendon estate the company has been based for many years.

The estate is out of pocket to the tune of £57,480 and James Hole, the agent for Iliffe, said it now faces ‘severe financial consequences’, adding: ‘They have been long-term tenants. We were astonished about the amount of money owed to others.’
 
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Curryong said:
A spokesman said this week that they felt ‘betrayed’ by Mrs Middleton. ‘What hurt me the most was that I trusted her as the mother-in-law of the future King and she just betrayed me,’ the representative said. ‘It is absolutely unacceptable.’
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Hmm, it is surely not quite fair but comprehensible for the creditors of "Party Pieces" to bring the Windsors into the equation....

This reminds me of the House of Fugger: When they were still only merchants, one father in law of the Fugger owed money to a town and was thrown into the "debt tower" for punishment - that were the times... The Fugger payed him out.

But "Party Pieces" was an outfit with limited liability! Creditors should have known this and considered it thoroughly.
 
victor1319 said:
…
But "Party Pieces" was an outfit with limited liability! Creditors should have known this and considered it thoroughly.
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In fairness to the folks who extended goods on credit & will now not get paid, the Middletons operated the company as a partnership & would have been personally liable for the co.s debts for well over 3 decades. & they appear to have the assets to cover the £2.6 million owed.
It was just over 3 years ago that they changed the structure to an LL getting funding from private sources & shielding themselves from personal liability. Which poses the question of why in 2019 (pre pandemic) would this allegedly successful company need an infusion of funds from new investors & why would they seek to shield themselves from personal liability.
Moreover, in at least one case the business owner had stopped supplying goods to the Middletons because of the unpaid bills & Carole pled w/ them to continue supplying the company & personally promised they’d be paid.
Under the circumstances, w/ the businesses they’ve left in the lurch not to mention the unpaid tax payer backed loans, you’d think they’d lay low for awhile, but instead Carole pops up at the Royal wedding in Saudi Arabia, a very bad look under the circumstances.
 
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The thing about this story that annoys me is that to large sum investors or bankers a company collapsing with £2.4 million of debt is not worth making headline news. If this family weren’t related to the royals nobody would even know about it.
 
The wedding was in Jordan not Saudi Arabia.

I think it is fair in one way to say the company debts are small time, especially to be front page news but still, to other small businesses who supplied them a couple of thousand pounds owed is the difference between profit and loss.

It seems to me that basically Carole and Michael semi retired in 2019 or just before, likely because with Amazon and various other rival companies popping up business wasn't once quite as easy as it once was and because they had reached an age where they wanted to be around for their grandchildren and enjoy life. Their big mistake IMO was not selling the business then and cutting their links with it. Instead they bought in investors and a CEO to do the day to day management Carole staying on as "brand ambassador" - tbh even this better publicised may have made the fall out now better. Making it clear carol was just the face not the CEO (I suspect they didn't do that because it would have seen them called out for cashing in blatantly on Carole's daughter being royal, what other small company would keep the former CEO on as "the face"). The problem is in doing so they handed over their reputation to others, trusting the company would be run well. The pandemic came, mixed with poor management and the company starts racking up debts. Carole and Michael who at this point own shares in the new company are effectively just share holders on of whom also works as brand ambassador but they get the flack for the debts while those who were actually running it don't. It was a foolish mistake of Carole's to personally be phoning anyone up promising anything about payments.

A lot of mistakes were made, but that is business. Most businesses do fail and they had 30 odd years of success. Their biggest mistake was not cashing in and selling up and cutting ties completely.
 
tommy100 said:
The wedding was in Jordan not Saudi Arabia.

I think it is fair in one way to say the company debts are small time, especially to be front page news but still, to other small businesses who supplied them a couple of thousand pounds owed is the difference between profit and loss.

It seems to me that basically Carole and Michael semi retired in 2019 or just before, likely because with Amazon and various other rival companies popping up business wasn't once quite as easy as it once was and because they had reached an age where they wanted to be around for their grandchildren and enjoy life. Their big mistake IMO was not selling the business then and cutting their links with it. Instead they bought in investors and a CEO to do the day to day management Carole staying on as "brand ambassador" - tbh even this better publicised may have made the fall out now better. Making it clear carol was just the face not the CEO (I suspect they didn't do that because it would have seen them called out for cashing in blatantly on Carole's daughter being royal, what other small company would keep the former CEO on as "the face"). The problem is in doing so they handed over their reputation to others, trusting the company would be run well. The pandemic came, mixed with poor management and the company starts racking up debts. Carole and Michael who at this point own shares in the new company are effectively just share holders on of whom also works as brand ambassador but they get the flack for the debts while those who were actually running it don't. It was a foolish mistake of Carole's to personally be phoning anyone up promising anything about payments.

A lot of mistakes were made, but that is business. Most businesses do fail and they had 30 odd years of success. Their biggest mistake was not cashing in and selling up and cutting ties completely.
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I agree that decreasing margins likely were eroding their profits, and the attempt to expand into the USA was ill advised, but even though the spin may be they were ‘stepping back’ in 2019, the reality is that when they changed the structure of the business & gave investors a share of the company they retained a majority share of the business & were two of the directors.
It’ll be interesting to see if the new owner can run it as a profitable business.
 
Middleton Education Fund?

Many in the press are saying, the commercial success of "Party Pieces" allowed the Middletons to sent their kids to expensive schools - what, as we know, led to Kate's and Prince William's love, which was formed at St. Andrews University.

But somewhere into the back of my head I mean to remember, that an economically very successful ancestor of the Middletons has set up a fund, to finance an excellent education for coming generations. But I can't find anything about it right now - So, was that true?
 
victor1319 said:
Many in the press are saying, the commercial success of "Party Pieces" allowed the Middletons to sent their kids to expensive schools - what, as we know, led to Kate's and Prince William's love, which was formed at St. Andrews University.

But somewhere into the back of my head I mean to remember, that an economically very successful ancestor of the Middletons has set up a fund, to finance an excellent education for coming generations. But I can't find anything about it right now - So, was that true?
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It's certainly been reported that some of the Lupton/Middleton money made in Victorian Leeds was used to set up a trust fund to pay for school fees, yes.

Admission to St Andrews is, like admission to any British university, based on application. People from all sorts of different schools and backgrounds go there. You don't have to have been to an expensive boarding school.
 
Wonder if either Kate or William will be a godparent?
Are either a godparent to one of Pippa's children?
 
Congratulations to James and Alizée:flowers:
 
I have close friends who raise potential guide dog puppies and I've been out on walks with them. I couldn't do it. It's hard work and I can't be strict enough with dogs, but it's an amazing thing to do. I hope James's spot in GMB will encourage those who have the right temperament to come forward.

I was critical of James for a long while, which probably wasn't fair, but his open mental health and dog advocacy has really turned me around on him in the last few years.
 
crm2317 said:
The thing about this story that annoys me is that to large sum investors or bankers a company collapsing with £2.4 million of debt is not worth making headline news. If this family weren’t related to the royals nobody would even know about it.
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Exactly, they were not the only company to take out loans during Covid, thousands did. It is unfortunate and not a great look I would agree but it has nothing to do with who their daughter happens to be married to. It only made the papers because of that.
 
Hallo girl said:
It is unfortunate and not a great look I would agree but it has nothing to do with who their daughter happens to be married to. It only made the papers because of that.
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Yeah, but the loss of money for the Middletons' creditors makes all persons in the surroundings of the Royal Family less credit worthy, because nobody from the Royal Family will come and ride to the rescue if something happens to the business interests of their "associates".
 
victor1319 said:
Yeah, but the loss of money for the Middletons' creditors makes all persons in the surroundings of the Royal Family less credit worthy, because nobody from the Royal Family will come and ride to the rescue if something happens to the business interests of their "associates".
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This does not make sense as a train of logic to me. Most people do not have their businesses bailed out by family and friends. Liability gets limited. No one ever thought the royal family would bail out the businesses of associates and it was never a factor in anyone’s credit.
 
HRHHermione said:
No one ever thought the royal family would bail out the businesses of associates and it was never a factor in anyone’s credit.
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Well, some creditors, for example the owner of the business that supplied the gas for the balloons, brought up, that they trusted the Middleton's outfit, because it was run by "the mother-in-law of the future king". So, there have been some hopes...
 
No-one expects the owners' son-in-law's family to bail out a collapsing business. And all companies being liquidated with outstanding Covid bounceback loans are being investigated by the Insolvency Service. Businesses fail sometimes. It's very unfortunate for those who lose out as a result, but it happens.
 
No serious business would expect the daughter or brother in law of the owners to step in and pay off their credit. Yes being the mother of the Princess of Wales means people may have been more willing to do business with them and may have been more accommodating towards them over credit etc however tbh to me its bad business to be over awed by social connections in business. I can see why somebody may mention it in an interview (it will get better attention) but they cant seriously have expected the RF to step in.
Equally I am sure Carole and Michael themselves could well possibly have afforded to pay off some of the creditors but sadly that isn't how it works, the company was put into the hands of administrators who have to deal case by case with monies owed not just on who had the best sob story. I do feel for the businesses involved- Party Pieces and those owed money by them - but business is full of risks and extending credit always involves the risk it may not be paid back.
 
I don't quite know why (because I know nothing about him, I don't think I would even really know who he was just by a picture, if they didn't specify that he was Kate's brother because unlike Pippa, he doesn’t seem to be covered in the press as much, at least in America) but I always thought he was gay. Not that there is anything wrong with that, and like I said I don’t even know why I thought that b/c I have never seen an interview with him, know nothing about him, have only seen pictures of him a few times, I just always thought he was. It’s weird…again, I have no idea where that thought came from. But from what I have heard, he got married, so I guess whatever random reason that had put that idea in my head, was not true. I mean, were their rumors of it…perhaps someone from England could let me know if people used to speculate, because maybe I heard a fake rumor at some point and that is what put it in my head, but I honestly don’t remember or why I thought that.
 
We get a lot of British news here in Australia and as an expat my relatives kept me in touch too.
I don’t know why there would be any rumours about James being gay at all in GB. I didn’t really follow the Middleton family much before Kate married William but I do remember James dated Donna Air, an older British actress and sometime singer, from about 2013 for a good five years before they finally split. And I can vaguely remember a photo with another girlfriend before that but can’t recollect much about her. So I think James has always been definitely straight!
 
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Sorry I'm commenting on a very old post of yours, but I'm fairly new here and I'm just going through threads that are of interest to me.

I am from the US, and although the royals are highly reported on here, I don't know all the ins and outs of who they can or can't marry. I know enough about the Middletons to know that they have/had a successful party supply business, so she wasn't royal family rich, but she was well off compared to others. But even if her father worked in a factory and they lived in some small row house somewhere in England, she went to what I'm assuming was a good University, so she is smart. Even if her family wasn't rich, and the school was very expensive, I don't know how it works in the UK so maybe it is different there, but colleges and universities in the US are very expensive and most people's parents can't just write out a check and pay for it, but we have student loans. If you guys have anything similiar there, if she was smart enough to get in, and could get something equivalent to student loans here, she would still go and show any family that she is an educated person.

And his isn't back in the day where royals met at balls, or polo matches, or were introduced through other aristocratic familys who were in the loop with the family. They in a normal, genuine way, met at school, became friends, and found a real connection, where it was obvious after they were together at school and afterwards for as long as they were, that she wasn't just trying to get with him because he was Prince William. And if after all that, and he wanted to marry her, but she wasn't rich, there would be NO WAY Charles would allow anyone to put his son through what he went through by not letting him marry who he wanted, because his mother didn't allow him to marry who he wanted which ruined and wasted years of his life, and in turn ruined and wasted years of someone who was dragged into a situation she didn't realize she was being dragged into at the time, and that was Diana. And I think Queen Elizabeth wouldn't dare do that again after she realized her decision with Charles caused so much drama and headaches and bad press. If she denied William to marry anyone he wanted...the press would have dragged them.

sara1981 said:
i found out about Kate Middleton on my other forums http://theinternetforums.co.uk/william/ you can register for FREE!

if you are member or not!

check it out!

Kate Middleton, Is She A Rich Girl

is she rich? because she must have money to be accept in the royal family?

Sara Boyce
Click to expand...
 
Meatball2013 said:
Sorry I'm commenting on a very old post of yours, but I'm fairly new here and I'm just going through threads that are of interest to me.

I am from the US, and although the royals are highly reported on here, I don't know all the ins and outs of who they can or can't marry. I know enough about the Middletons to know that they have/had a successful party supply business, so she wasn't royal family rich, but she was well off compared to others. But even if her father worked in a factory and they lived in some small row house somewhere in England, she went to what I'm assuming was a good University, so she is smart. Even if her family wasn't rich, and the school was very expensive, I don't know how it works in the UK so maybe it is different there, but colleges and universities in the US are very expensive and most people's parents can't just write out a check and pay for it, but we have student loans. If you guys have anything similiar there, if she was smart enough to get in, and could get something equivalent to student loans here, she would still go and show any family that she is an educated person.

And his isn't back in the day where royals met at balls, or polo matches, or were introduced through other aristocratic familys who were in the loop with the family. They in a normal, genuine way, met at school, became friends, and found a real connection, where it was obvious after they were together at school and afterwards for as long as they were, that she wasn't just trying to get with him because he was Prince William. And if after all that, and he wanted to marry her, but she wasn't rich, there would be NO WAY Charles would allow anyone to put his son through what he went through by not letting him marry who he wanted, because his mother didn't allow him to marry who he wanted which ruined and wasted years of his life, and in turn ruined and wasted years of someone who was dragged into a situation she didn't realize she was being dragged into at the time, and that was Diana. And I think Queen Elizabeth wouldn't dare do that again after she realized her decision with Charles caused so much drama and headaches and bad press. If she denied William to marry anyone he wanted...the press would have dragged them.
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Well the Middleton’s are upper middle class not only because they owned a business, but there were trusts set up by a relative of Michael Middleton’s who used it to pay for the fees. There are bursaries for potential students in public schools for students whose parents can’t afford the fees, but of course there was no need for that in Kate’s case. There is student loan/student finance for University to pay fees and living costs.

Maybe I should address this is in another thread, no one forced Charles to marry his ex-wife. The BRF stopped marrying other royals since pre-world war I, the only recent exception was the late Queen and Prince Philip and that was purely by circumstance and some minute intervention of Dickie Mountbatten. Diana wasn’t royal, but aristocratic. The Queen didn’t force Charles to marry the former Princess of Wales. The only way people (public at large) would know if William was being denied the right to marry whoever he wanted would be if William planned a secret interview on tv, which probably wouldn’t happen because he’s way too discreet and guarded to do that. The press has always had the public interest in good ideas because they’d only do such a thing for good coverage and views not out of concern.
 
Sun Lion said:
Kate’s parents have been subjected to a poster campaign in their home village of Bucklebury following the collapse of their “Party Pieces” business.

No photos, but it is being reported that an enraged James has been seen pulling these posters down.

(James lives in the area.)

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/ar...gn-collapse-family-business-Party-Pieces.html
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That's unfortunate. There are other ways to handle things without publicly smearing someone. I understand business people are upset that they are out money but that is what the courts are for.
 
It is unfortunate that some creditors have been left in debt for sometimes thousands of pounds, some for hundreds. And I hope that vigorous efforts are being paid to these creditors.

However, knowing the DM’s reputation for, ahem, stretching the truth, who knows how many posters really have been plastered around the village. It could very well be a couple or even one.
 
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