Last week, we had some fun photos of Carole Middleton getting ripped properly at a Rugby World Cup game. It honestly never really occurred to me to wonder if Ol’ Carole is getting sh-tfaced regularly, just because I guess I always thought that was more the Duchess of Cornwall’s thing. Carole has always seemed more like the hyperactive, micromanaging stage mum with a smoker’s rasp and a hawk eye. But put a bottle of wine into that equation and it really does fit. Carole is the mother who sloshes her wine when she’s waving her cigarette around as she tells funny stories to her son-in-law while her daughter cringes. Yes, I can see that. Anyway, Star Magazine says Carole has a drinking problem and it’s tearing William and Kate apart!
On October 3, during the Rugby World Cup in London, Carole Middleton looked sauced as she glugged from a bottle of wine hidden in her purse – a worrisome behavior that’s become common.
“It seems to be happening a lot lately,” discloses an insider, adding that Carole’s drinking has escalated, along with the rough patches in her marriage to her husband of 35 years, Michael.
Now Prince William’s perfectly put-together wife is dreading the holidays around her royal in-laws.
“It’s a huge concern for Kate. She’ll hide her booze at her house, but mom just brings her own! Last Christmas, Carole had too much to drink and started telling totally inappropriate jokes. Kate was so humiliated that she finally had to drag her away. She told her mom if she doesn’t straighten up, she’ll be banned from all royal events.”
[From Star Magazine, print edition]
If any part of this is true, I would have to stifle a chuckle at the deliciousness of the prospect: William has spent so much time and energy putting the Middletons on a pedestal as the idealized “middle class, normal” family that he’s always wanted, so what happens if Carole and Mike split up? What happens if the Middletons are truly normal and just like everybody else, in that they’ve got their own problems, because Carole is a boozehound and Michael just wants some peace and quiet and Pippa can’t land a guy and James is an utter moron at business? What happens if the Middletons can’t keep it together just to keep William happy? Would William stop idealizing this so-called middle class life? Or would the Normal William stomp his feet and whine and demand that everybody just keep it together for his sake? Won’t anyone think of poor William? While we ponder that, someone please fetch Carole her fifth mojito.
Photos courtesy of WENN.
Won’t somebody please think of the children (aka William)?
Bwah.
George and Charlotte probably can run things better than the adults.
Poor donothing, what will she do – it’s hard functioning without an unbiblical cord.
LOL!
ROTFL
It’s been floating around for a few years that Carole has been enjoying the sauce a bit too much.
William’s bubble would be burst if they split, Carole&Mike, but what would Kate do?
Would Pippa,James and Kate have to choose sides , would it be a War of PR between Carole and Mike or would they just play nice with each other in the event of a divorce?
I guess William and Kate would get Carole in the event of a divorce? lol
“William and Kate would get Carole in the event of a divorce?” Now, I’m ROTFL!
I’d totally have a dirty martini with Carole Middleton.
me too. She must be much more interesting than all her children put together.
Clearly Star magazines just pulled a story out of their a*se based on those pictures.
Ooh, I love dirty martinis.
She doesn’t look good in those pictures, though. Sun? Alcohol? Smoking? A lot of wrinkles.
We all discuss Kate’s warp speed aging, but for me, it’s Carole’s aging that i find shocking. this was taken in 2011. compare to now.
http://www.celebitchy.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/wenn3553207.jpg
LAK–whoa! What happened to her in four years?
I’m three years older than her and I don’t have those wrinkles.
Carole is not young, and is a smoker, she shows her age.
Kate… I think she is soo damn thin that it ages her.
WHOA! I can’t believe that! I think the lighting is different and slightly more flattering than the more recent pictures, but even then, you can still see a difference.
Sun, smoking, drinking , EXTREME DIETING….that’ll do it.
When sozzled, would she says as many *interesting* things as her brother Gary? Get out the recording devices.
I imagine that Carol would not give us plebes the time of day.
Eh, they totally lost credibility for this story by describing Kate as “Prince William’s perfectly put-together wife.” LOL
LOL! IKR That’s what I noticed as well. This is STAR after all. They’re not very credible at the best of times.
Star mag is always late to the party picking up scraps to assemble incredulous stories. They do try.
I have theories that are probably way off base.
I don’t doubt that Carole likes her drink, but I doubt she’s an alcoholic. She’s so into control. Although who knows, anything can happen.
Michael Middleton has almost entirely disappeared from the scene and the few times he has surfaced he has looked completely over it all. Kate looks worried and William grim.
I do think that there is tension and trouble somewhere in the Wales/Middleton swirl, just not sure exactly where its coming from.
And William is getting a lesson in the old adage – no family is perfect. They are all dysfunctional in their own unique ways. Never romanticize anything way out of proportion.
Control issues and alcoholism are not mutually exclusive…
Alcoholism, like any drug addiction, is very sneaky. I am pretty much a control freak, but it almost grabbed me. Little by little, you reach for that wine bottle more and more, rationalizing it all the way. Carole could easily rationalize it with all the stress she created for her family in her chase of the Royal One.
Sad, if true. No one deserves this.
I think something’s up too, but I’ll stop at calling her an alcoholic. A few drinks at a rugby match does not an alcoholic make. If she can’t control herself in public when drinking, then I’ll believe it. I’ve thought image is everything to her, and if she would risk that by drinking to excess then perhaps the label fits.
But, yep, I think something’s up.
Drinking alone at a rugby game from a stash hidden in her purse is a significant indicator. I’m an alcoholic (in remission)…but most people can’t tell when I’m drunk even if I’ve put back a significant amount. In years of active abuse, I embarrassed myself publically only once.
I doubt very much it’s from a “stash from her purse”. I went to that game and they were selling those bottles of wine along with beers.
And she certainly wasn’t “drinking alone” – I wager 90% of the adults at the game were drinking along with her. I don’t like the woman but i think a mountain is being made out of a molehill here.
Hey, Mich! Haven’t seen you for a while.
I’m recovering as well. Unfortunately I was not as good as you at hiding it. 🙂 Although we did have someone working here who would sneak drinks in the bathroom during the day, and other that her prodigious use of mouthwash, you wouldn’t have known it of her either.
Still not ready to tag Carole on the basis of this, though.
Prodigious use of mouthwash is one of the things that sets up my drinking antennae as a nurse.
LOL – as much as I shade the Mids, this is total BS partly because its Star and the other because the Mid women are all very health/image conscious.
…seriously – sunning, smoking, drinking/drunk falling over in taxi flashing (google limpet sib partying).
Agree about the star, but in the end turn up correct with this kind of secret/gossip. Last shopping paps, she seem more like a break from the ‘closet’ and shopping for comfort (band from interfering with the 4 children).
Pip/pipa/pipa midds etc…
Young people drink.. It happens.
Is Carol an alcoholic? Not likely based on this evidence.
Betti
It’s star so its all bs. Aside from names they get it all wrong. It’s failproof at this point.
Only truth in this. Carol went to a rugby game and drank like loads of other people there.
I’d need a hidden bottle of Chardonnay to sit through a game of rugby too. She is normal in my book.
I’d need a fifth of Vodka to make it.
Haha ok seems they made up a story just to go with these photos.
Agree.
Agree, too. But the photos are kinda funny, which makes it hard for the media to pass up an opportunity to lampoon someone connected to the royal family.
I gather ‘Star’ magazine and Australia’s ‘Woman’s Day’ and ‘New idea’ all share stories, because they’re all singing from the same song sheet about this – one even went so far as to say she was drinking out of a brown paper bag (as if). The pictures were funny but I highly doubt the story is true … the mags don’t have much else to report on at the moment but surely they can do better than this non-story?
Drinking out of a Hermes bag, more like. Preferably a spanking new Birkin.
I would suggest a brand new Birkin, because afterall, one mustn’t let standards slip.
Ha! I’m so sure.
Fellow Aussie here, Aussie Reader. Woman’s Day and New Idea…how do they – can they – keep “writing” the same garbage, week after week, with most of it never eventuating, and never being taken to task over their complete fabrications? I’m waiting for Jennifer Aniston’s announcement about her pregnancy. With twins. And Nivole Kidman is having a boy. Prince Harty getting back with Chelsy Davy… I must look it up; which company is the parent of all these rags.
I confess I love my Woman’s Day, my darling twin sister buys me a subscription every year so I can keep up to date with the goss. I think that old Rupe is at the bottom of the parent publishing company, but I may be wrong. I find it hilarious to skim their front page every week, and you can guarantee there is an outrageous statement or two on it, just so the great unwashed will pick it up at the checkout for the sake of curiosity. Nine times out of ten it is a complete fabrication, but they are so brazen about it, you have to find it amusing, and pruriently entertaining, which I think is their intention. They still have a ways to go though before the reach the bottom of the barrel, which is where you find Star magazine, and its ilk.
I always find it very suspect when these royal insiders use very un-english terms like mom and bangs etc. Are we really meant to believe that has come from someone in Kate’s inner circle? Or does she have a lot of American staff (besides poor Jason)?
I wondered the same thing, Sopha. Those very-obviously American terms usually give the game away for we Aussies, too.
That only means that it was passed to a US publication and they used their own terms in a US publication.
I’ll bet anything this story was in the Australian tabs first. Sources have been selling stories there first for the past several years,because they don’t want legals coming at them in the UK.
I don’t know. I can look very tipsy after one drink, and once at a business event someone took a group pic right after I got there and I was holding a glass of champagne but hadn’t taken a sip and I looked wasted. Maybe she just has resting drunk face, like me.
Ha ha! Resting Drunk Face!
I don’t take Star seriously, but if she was really hiding booze in her handbag that’s a little weird. And Kate can forget hiding the booze – that never works. My mother was a drunk all her life, and my son once said that going to her house was like visiting frat house – bottles everywhere. She even kept whisky in the bathroom!
Not going to a match where it might be confiscated if found?
She didn’t bring booze in her handbag, they were selling those little wine bottles at the game – probably half the stadium were drinking them.
How english, everybody around clairol is pretending she isn’t fried. When she clearly is.
Lol GNAT
I’ve looked tipsy off nonalcoholic drinks. It happens 🙂
I too have been known to tipple Crackling Rose from a crystal glass at my daughter’s soccer games..but I don’t wear mascara a dead give away for happy drunks..
Ugh. As much as I love most sports, I would need something a lot stronger to sit through children’s soccer games on a weekly basis. My heart goes out to you and your sacrifice to be a supportive parent. 😉
Oh come on, Hudson Girl! You don’t enjoy watching clumps of small children running up and down a field kicking at each other? 😀
LOL@ Hudson, I feel ya. My daughter got knocked in the head with the ball twice the first season she played. Put her off soccer for good, and now I get to have wonderful lazy Saturday mornings while she gets her weekly fill of television.
So when Kate complained about William’s absence after George was born, he was meeting up with his drinking buddy Carole. Mystery solved!
I don’t take this story seriously so my comments are tongue in cheek:
Would this really worry William or would he be getting drunk with Carol and this will be yet another tie that binds?
Is Kate distressed because she’s worried and embarrassed or is she at a loss when both of her controllers are too sloshed to tell her what to do.
Is hair ruffling a genetic trait?
The English like their plonk. That’s how they roll.
In other news, there seems to be no mention of Kate in the China itinerary. Only HM,Duke of E,Duke of Y, CamChuck & Billy Normal. Shame.
If Normal Bill is going then am surprised she’s not but I suspect she will ‘turn up’ at some point for a photo op.
She’s too busy painting portraits of the children to show up for that lot
Duplicate comment posted in wrong place. That’s what i get for having a tipple at lunch time
🙂
This is what you get for eating and drinking in public. a set of unfortunate pictures that allow rags to tell unfortunate narratives about you.
also, is this the first time we are seeing Michael’s hands clearly? he isn’t wearing a signet ring!!!!!!
Carole’s signet ring is present and accounted for.
Well she co-designed the COA with some Downton chap so this must probs have been her idea. Although looks can be deceiving, I’ve always had thirst vibes from Ma while Mike seems uninterested in all this pretentious BS.
don’t be so sure. rumour has it that he enquired about COA back in 2007/2008, but was turned down.
They must have felt confident about their social standing back then what with W&K crawling back to one another &rumours of an engagement. Do you know the requirements for a COA?
COA are granted by the college of arms which is an extension of the royal household. http://www.college-of-arms.gov.uk/
There is no criteria for granting a COA, but it helps if you have awards for crown,public, charity, Business or military services.
I can’t think why MM would apply or even enquire after a COA at that time since the Middletons weren’t known, then or now, for any of exceptional services.one could say their current COA was granted for services rendered to the crown in the form of Kate’s womb. And it’s a ridiculous COA since it celebrates their leisure pursuits and children as opposed to service to others.
Thanks. “services rendered”? Um… I think Gary should have gotten one being the ATM that funded her Waity years. They shouldn’t have bothered with that dumb line & simply stated that family of heir’s heir’s wife wanted to be recognised as aristos. They aren’t fooling anyone.
I didn’t think he ever had, did he? I thought it was Carole and the kids.
i’ve never seen his hands clearly before – he never holds them up like the rest, so i couldn’t say for sure.
LAK, In the UK is it considered impolite or maybe just tacky for spectators to eat or drink at a sporting event?
And I continue to be flabbergasted over those signet rings. In British society I would think they would be viewed as the epitome of Hyacinth Bucket. If I’m right, wearing them must be working against the Midds in their attempts to be accepted by aristos.
It depends on the sport, and what you are eating. I generally don’t have any issues with what she’s eating/drinking, BUT she should be more camera aware due to the unfortunate pictures.
As for the signet rings, people do wear them, especially the upper classes because they are family rings. Or depict family history and sometimes are inherited. We had a little discussion about this in the Henry Cavill thread a few days ago because it seems CB had never noticed his signet ring before. He has actually talked about it. It bears an image of the roots of his name, Cavelier.
What is tacky is where you start wearing them to indicate your elevated class, like the Middletons started doing a few days after Kate’s wedding.
I think Carole is judged harshly on all these points because she’s so nakedly Hyacinth Bucket about it. We don’t like show offs.
MinnFinn, all sorts of people wear the dreaded pinky ring, but it is quiet commonly accepted that it is mostly just tossers, plonkers, and wankers who do, and of course the odd Royal. Bill doesn’t wear anything, there was a big to do when they got married that he wasn’t going to wear a ring, so I couldn’t guess where he fits exactly. Or maybe I can. Hyacinth would think there are the epitome of couth, I am surprised that she never got Richard to wear one.
Mike must have decided wearing the try hard siggie ring was beneath his dignity.
Placing Kate at the top of the pyramid to whose upper reaches Carole has always so nakedly aspired was Carole’s lifetime accomplishment. Now, she’s left with nothing to do, as Pippa seems to be blowing it unless she can circle back to a couple of high-end BFs and one of them comes through. Carole sunk everything she had emotionally into Kate’s campaign to capture William. Once the euphoria wore off . . . Carole was left alone with her not too interesting husband and rising calls for her to get out of Kate’s and William’s lives. Like a lot of women whose lives were ferociously fed by her children, their departure has left Carole somewhat . . . empty. Enter Dr. Bottle . . .
+1000
Spot on!
Jib,
Amen!
carol seem to have been drinking before those cam shots. Mike seem to have gotten use to disassociating from her (looking away) …. but was embarrassed to be close with her and near a royal – Prince Harry in public view.
As an ex-drinker myself, Carole is really draining that glass like any good drunk would do. And why is she drinking at a rugby game? Michael doesn’t look to be drinking. If you have to drink while at a ball game during the day, when you KNOW the eyes of the world are on you, I think there may be a problem. (It’s not the same as the rest of us having a cocktail or two while at a ball game. No one follows most of us around. I think. ) And unless those photos are seriously photoshopped, the woman is sloshed.
No shade here at her, this is a life threatening condition if she has it. And it would explain a LOT about Kate, as an adult child of an alcoholic. Needs complete control (weight issues,) and the stress she seems to be under. I hope Carole gets help if she needs it.
It’s totally normal to drink at the rugby. They serve wine in wee plastic bottles and everything. It’s the World Cup, so they’re big matches too. They’re played in the evening, a perfectly acceptable time for a wine!
I’m guessing from your phrasing (“ball game”) that you’re American?
I don’t care if the Average Joe has a beer or whatever at a ball game (yes, I’m American 🙂 ).
But I don’t think she would have done this if Kate were still trying to get a ring from William, so I think she should practice the same discretion for Pippa and James’ sake.
Pippa is still trying really hard to catch herself a rich and preferably high-titled husband, even to the point at which she couldn’t care less about being pap’d the next morning during the walk of shame. She’ll even carry out a big bouquet of flowers as if it’s a trophy.
What would prospective parents-in-law think when they see Carole sloshed in public where she and everybody knows there are paps since she’s sitting in front of Harry whose there on official patronage business? I would think the true upper class folk would want more discrete in-laws, the total opposite of the Middletons.
Same for James, but I think he has less of a chance than Pippa of getting an upper class, rich girl from a high-titled family. The prospective parents-in-law might be worried that he’d squander all their daughter’s inheritance on another foolish business idea. What’s he going to do next? What other cheap food snacks can he try to upsell? Instagram photos on popcorn or digestive biscuits?
Yes, and we drink at baseball games and football games (the pointy kind of football!) but when the eyes of the world are always on you, I would think one wouldn’t want to look sloshed, which is how she looks. Seriously past tipsy, well into drunk.
I skip anything that get ‘Star Magazine’ stamped
I could go for a Bloody Mary right about now
I’m way more intrigued that Michael is standing next to a Jessica Chastain doppelganger and doesn’t even seem to notice her. Man must love his rugby.
Kate was so humiliated that she finally had to drag her away. She told her mom if she doesn’t straighten up, she’ll be banned from all royal events.”
William better not hear Kate say that, his likely response will be,”Haven’t you realize you’re a package deal? If she goes, you go!”
Plus what are these royal events Carol will get banned from, coming over to watch George sing, “twinkle twinkle little star.”
I too don’t believe that Kate will order Carole to do anything. It’s like a lieutenant ordering around a general.
Royal events might be allowing the Middletons to attend church services with the Queen up in Sandringham/Norfolk or wherever that was. Also, I saw Carole in the Royal boxes at a sporting event chatting with Camilla. Then there’s the recent one in which the MIddletons including James and their friends sitting in the VIP seats in front of Harry at the rugby games.
I think what the writer meant wasn’t necessarily events counted as royal work, but those at which a high-ranking member of the BRF would be at the same time.
I think it’s meant to convey that Carole loves being photographed hobnobbing with an HRH, whereas the other HRH in-laws don’t and are more discreet.
Yes, no way Kate would stand up to Carole.
…that quote (from kate- eyeroll), is really HM POW- BP/CH – The Firm warning Willnot*limpet – of carol the “regular’ meddleton family.
As I read this article, The Royales came into mind (an old UK TV show which one can watch on YouTube).
Carole is the father, Mike is the mom, Kate, Pippa, and James are the daughter. William is the son-in-law. Uncle Gary is the father’s BFF. Nobody is the son though. If you know the series, then you know why.
i loved that spoof. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D6FU0cgg9ko
That’s funny!
It’s too bad they canceled the series. I loved it.
The Royales was hilarious. Sue Johnstone is a true Stah, she can play anything, and does, fabulously!
Kate doesn’t have the spine to stand up to her mother. She may genuinely be concerned, but to take a tough love stance with Carole would be tantamount to cutting off a limb. Kate needs her mother like most people need air to breathe. Who else will keep William in line? Run her household? Take care of the kids? If not Carole, then Kate will have to and I don’t think she’s quite capable of that.
I agree that Kate is not going to do a Gypsy Rose Lee and tell Mama Rose to back off.
Just off the topic…Middleton femmes like exchanging their clothes with each other, don´t they? Pippa has the same jacket as Carole in these photos, or I actually suspect this is Pippa`s jacket Carole is wearing here. BTW, Pip has a raw of the similar jackets all from the italian brand Fay and I doubt she would have bought seven jackets/coats from the same brand. So Pip lives off (partially) the free bees she gets, and then supplies at least her mom.
Do not think I have just discovered the American continent by explaining all this, but it just proves once again for me that Midds use their royal connection despite them denying it.
Yep, you’re right. I recognized Pippa’s jacket, too.
They’ve been swapping clothes for years – been papped many times wearing repeats.
The same look alike ‘royal’ wear went down with limpet PJ pants worn to the rugby game- ma carol had it on shopping.
Guess this is the continuation of stalking days for pippy and carol inside the royal wardrobe.
The woman built a business from the ground up while raising three children. She can drink if she wants to.
Mike & Gary: the often forgotten PP partners. They worked just as much. And even more the kids making PP products in a Mexican sweatshop.
🙂
So what’s your point?
Gary is drinking enough for their entire family 🙂
Mike is.. well, being Mike.
My comment is self-explanatory.
Bah ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha/
What happens if the Middletons are truly normal and just like everybody else, in that they’ve got their own problems, because Carole is a boozehound and Michael just wants some peace and quiet and Pippa can’t land a guy and James is an utter moron at business?
/Bah ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha
Meh, Kate and Carole probably fight and make up like any mother and daughter.
I just love the “how low class” vibe of the article when it refers to Carole drinking out of her purse. No brown paper bag? Lol.
This is why celebs don’t drink and eat in public and why Harry at his recent birthday party at a pub in Chelsea kept passing his cigarette to Guy Pelly’s wife to light and hold for him.
I don’t think she looks sozzled and the measurements in those little bottles are the equivalent of a small glass of wine in the UK and it would take several to get drunk – market testing you understand.
So that last pic looks like when your girlfriend is drinking even more quicker than your group of friends and you tips-ily (bec you been drinking too not as fast though) ask her: “hey girl you alright over there … you downing those like food” and she give you that look….. right before she stumbles back onto her chair or pukes….
….this look may bring back memories LOL
Oh come on.
She has never been caught driving under the influence – such a story would have been exploited by the tabloids to the most.
I don’t think she has a drinking problem. The only pic of her drinking is a pic of a rather civilised glass of wine. And the rest is a doubtful source in a doubtful tabloid.
Recently Pippa was accused of “sleeping around” and being a “slut” and the accusers were likely people who disliked the Middleton’s social climbing. That is vengeful backstabbing. Now it seems it is Carole’s turn.
I am all for calling out lazy William and waity lazy Katie. But slander? No.
We don’t even know if it is alcohol at all. Could be some red juice.
Pondering
We do know it was wine as in some shots you can see the bottle and lable. But outside of that agree with your whole comment.
This article is silly, but serves as an outlet for some to get more shots at that family.
Oh, sorry, didn’t know that the bottle was pictured. In that case it is likely wine. Was the label pictured clearly? There are some fruit juices that come in glass bottles … ;-D
Rip the Dolittle’s apart for their lack of work ethic and lack of interest in their work and all.
Even rip the Middleton family for their doubtfully “successful company” called Party Pieces and their not quite clear financial origins.
Lol It’s in some shots with her pulling the bottle out and pouring it into the glass. Link was to dm I think and in the original celebitchy thread.
The true finances of the Midds is extremely interesting. In time like all things it will come out imo.
I think that this makes a mountain out of a molehill. What is more interesting to me is, given that Carole knows the press will be all over her, especially in the royal box, that she was okay with people photographing her knocking back some wine.
Jane Boehner.
That last line slayed me!
Who is that lady beside Mike? She looks nice.
when i get to that age im going to be sauced 24/7
In spite of the fact that everyone is drinking in a public forum, it does seem kind of strange that Carole is drinking in public considering who she is, one has to wonder how long before her bubble completely bursts, she so wanted this more for herself than for her kid!