Yesterday, we discussed the rumors that the Middleton family’s business, Party Pieces, was struggling financially. Reportedly, three employees were laid off recently, and sources said that company morale was at an all-time low as many feared that Party Pieces would fold. Many commenters here claimed that it was likely Carole Middleton wants to retire and spend time with her grandchildren, so maybe she is looking to fold the business willingly, or unwillingly as the Party Pieces business model is likely being hacked away by Amazon and Etsy. There were also comments about the possibility that Carole could end up selling Party Pieces and doing retirement that way. I still don’t know. But I do know that Carole was peeved about the reports, and I know that she contacted old-guard royal reporter Richard Kay at the Daily Mail to do an absolutely cloying and obvious puff piece about how Brilliant Carole Built a Business and Prepared Her Daughter To Be Queen. Kay also gets some information from “sources” (cough) that Carole has no intention to retire, and she’s hellbent on growing Party Pieces. Some highlights:

Carole wants to expand Party Pieces: The reality, I can reveal, is somewhat different. Far from contracting her business, Carole Middleton is intent on growing it and she is in talks with investors over plans to expand it. But for the Middletons, trading is infinitely more complicated than for most small businesses. Any slip risks being magnified or exaggerated, impacting not just on the bottom line but also on their unique position as royal in-laws. No one is more conscious of that than Carole. And it is why she has been so alive to ensuring the family can never be accused of exploiting their quasi-royal status for the sake of the family firm.

Carole is hyper-aware of her royal connections: Prince William has played a key role in ensuring that Mike and Carole, as he calls his in-laws, are not only part of his and Kate’s life but also of the Royal Family. Paradoxically, Mrs Middleton’s determination not to be seen milking the royal connection has contributed to the success of Party Pieces.

Party Pieces is ‘reliably successful’: And it has been reliably successful, providing enough money to send all three Middleton children to fee-paying Marlborough College, via prep schools and later university, holidays in Mustique, skiing trips to the Alps and even the leg of a modestly successful racehorse. It has also bought them a spacious and comfortable wisteria-clad manor house in Bucklebury, Berkshire, and a Chelsea flat with no mortgage where all the children have lived at some time or another. And it is from Party Pieces that everything springs, lifting the Middletons from relative financial modesty to multi-millionairedom, in turn propelling Kate into a new social sphere, which gave her the confidence and affluence to win a Prince.

Whether Carole has laid off half the staff: It was reported that a publicity agent, a web designer and a search engine optimiser had been axed. It was also claimed that three warehouse staff had been laid off before Christmas. In fact the firm employs more than 30 people and as one insider said: ‘Losing three is hardly half the staff. We’re very confident about the future.’

Carole spoke to a “friend”: Last night, Carole told a family friend: ‘Yes, a couple of people are leaving but this is our much-loved family business which is far from failing. All of the changes we are making are to help protect the business for the future. We are in talks with some very exciting investors who believe in our plans to grow the business.’

The company spokesperson speaks: ‘Party Pieces owes a duty of confidentially to its employees and cannot comment on speculation. We can confirm the business is currently working on an exciting development partnership, and the company’s structure is being reviewed to align with its financial targets.’

[From Party Pieces]

What is the purpose of this piece? What was the purpose of going to Richard Kay, a royal reporter, to talk about a family business? The talk of investors reminds me of all the shadiness around Boomf, James Middleton’s Nazi-marshmallow business, and how much time he spent using his royal-adjacent contacts to pour good money after bad into Boomf (and he lost all of that investment capital through mismanagement). My point is that Carole either wants to prepare people for the idea of Party Pieces going into business with someone who might seem seedy OR she’s hyping the company for a sale, perhaps. I don’t know. But this piece was definitely an interesting wrinkle. Also: I still maintain that the Middletons’ lifestyle was supplemented quite heavily by Uncle Gary, but of course that is not the official story.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.