It was curious at the time, and even more curious now to look back at Carole Middlton’s moves starting in the fall of 2018. That was around the same time that the attacks on the Duke and Duchess of Sussex got amped up, and it was around the same time that we started seeing Duchess Kate directly and blatantly competing with Meghan. I still believe that Kate ran to her mummy and they came up with a plan of attack to embiggen Kate at Meghan’s expense. There was a lot happening (with other households) around the same time, so I don’t blame Carole and Kate for everything that happened, but they definitely pushed some stories. During that time, Carole also bizarrely gave some big interviews about her business (Party Pieces), her work ethic, being a grandmother and more. Carole’s media blitz was not part of any palace operation, and the courtiers were apparently mystified by her interviews. Which just backs up my feeling that it was a scheme hatched by Carole and Kate.
A few months later, we also learned that Party Pieces was laying off a bunch of staffers, and there were rumors of business trouble. There was a story about William being “supportive” during Carole’s business woes. And a story about how Carole might sell Party Pieces. Those stories faded away in time (although some people reportedly said that Carole is a “rude boss”). All in all, I can believe multiple things are true at once: Carole wanted some attention so she could raise the profile of Party Pieces and likely improve the struggling business. And she wanted to embiggen Kate and the entire Middleton family so that no one would forget about them in the shadow of the Sussexes’ then-enormous popularity. I believed then (as I believe now) that Party Pieces is struggling. So this is interesting, right?
The party firm run by the Duchess of Cambridge’s mother has been criticised for ‘ignoring’ customers during the coronavirus lockdown. Carole Middleton’s Party Pieces’ social media sites have been inundated with people asking where their goods are. They claim they are not getting replies, even though the firm has been putting up Instagram posts.
One mother alleged her little boy’s birthday banner never arrived and she was sent another customer’s order instead. She fumed on the Berkshire-based company’s Instagram account: ‘Shambolic experience. Please save yourself the trouble and order elsewhere. We ordered a personalised banner for our son’s birthday weeks ago and still haven’t received it. Instead we received another customer’s order who lives three hours away and has also had issues with this company.
‘When both the customer whose items I received and I complained, we were promised that new items would be sent out and with us the next day. Neither of us received our orders. There are now two banners containing my son’s name and photo that have been delivered to unknown locations. We have been left with a box full of items that we didn’t order and have now had to buy items from another reputable company to ensure we have something on time for our son’s birthday. We have no trust or confidence in this company now and wouldn’t recommend them to anyone.’
Party Pieces, which was set up by the Middleton family over 30 years ago, had posted it was ‘open for business and orders are continuing to be dispatched’. The company commented on some of the complaints online, but other customers claimed their emails went unread.
The rest of the article is just a long cut-and-paste from the Party Pieces comment section, where angry customers have been venting their frustrations on each new IG post. While I think so many businesses are struggling in lockdown and it would make sense if PP was having issues getting stuff out in a timely fashion, what I don’t get is how emails are being left unread and no one is following up via phone or anything. That kind of customer service can be done from employees’ homes. Anyway… yeah. I’m getting a weird feeling about the Middletons and their business. And it’s pretty interesting that the Daily Mail drops one of these negative stories about Carole every few months. Interspersed with stories about how Carole is “very much a power behind the throne.” Maybe she’s too busy doing throne work behind the scenes to do her Party Pieces day job??
Photos courtesy of Backgrid, WENN and Avalon Red.
Maybe they take 8 years to answer 5 emails.
Are they very good or have exclusive designs? I cannot imagine such a business surviving in this age when Amazon and other giants have almost everything already.
I looked at their website a few times, and it doesn’t seem like anything special, but the draw seems to be that its themed. So you can just buy the first birthday stuff and pick a theme and it all goes together. I would think they would be doing BETTER during this time because Amazon is so behind (at least here in the US) and the typical party stores aren’t open.
Yes but Amazon is an essential service because they also deliver essential items. If their warehouse is in the UK, can their warehouse workers still go to work, and pack stuff? They sell party ware….
@Alexandria I’m not sure about the UK rules, but here warehouses are still operating, just may be a bit slower. But we can still order online from most places, so I assume if its similar in the UK, their workers could be doing that (fulfilling orders.) I think if they WERENT for some reason – even if they were allowed, if the Middletons said they were going to let the workers stay home for their safety – that would be announced/highlighted on the website. I mean I would think so anyway lol.
There has long been talk that party pieces made its money through the selling of customer lists and now that the GDPR forbids the sale of customers lists to third parties for privacy reasons, they are losing money. The site itself doesn’t seem that spectacular either. You can get better products elsewhere.
It’s just bad business to have customers that angry and they really should deal with it or at least explain why things are delayed. Right now most people would understand.
I am surprised the DM is covering this though. I wonder if the comments are locked yet. The nazi marshmallow article also showed up on the DM but then was suddenly buried and comments locked.
A LOT of these types of business lost out on a nice little revenue earner with the intro of GDPR. Story is that they used their ‘royal’ connection to charge a premium for their lists.
I think a previous poster on here knew how big their lists were – I would be interested to understand the details of how big the lists were and how much they charged for them.
@alexandria, and maybe they use those emails to determine their course of action for their life’s work.
Lol. Yeah if she works at the same pace as her daughter, I could see there being problems. Maybe they had poached some palace courtiers for their company and you know how THEY feel about emails!
Isn’t the DM Middleton go-to? I’m quite surprised they would write an article where PP is being bashed and critiqued by others. Perhaps this month’s cheque hasn’t come through?
Maybe this month’s bounced?
I’m surprised too
Well, now that the Sussexes have decamped/ been kicked out, the RR revenue stream is drying up. They have to find new stories. Someone a few days ago said that they will go after the married ins for their pound of flesh. Since Carole is a married in adjacent, I think this is what is going on. Plus, along with the story yesterday that all but called Normal Bill and Cathy lazy, these are warning shots directed at Bill (of RoseWho). They have the goods and they are reminding him of that.
With KP and W&K access cut off to the Sussexes, no more insider stories can be leaked to the Fail. W&K and the Midds have to pay the piper somehow.
They write negative pieces about the Meddletons all the time. They go after the WOMEN. It’s a sexist, racist, bigoted, classist rag
Yeah keep telling yourself that. Ooo the check bounced, it didn’t come through lmao 😂 The DM is a huge business operation, it works with nearly every single celebrity/famous person out there. So it’s extremely funny when people think it’s bad the Middletons use the DM for favourable articles, just like everyone else. The DM also writes negative, unkind stories about the very same people who happily want to be splashed across the online site. The fact that people have to come up with conspiracy theories to try and explain this away is genuinely hilarious. Yeah your faves do it too big deal!!
Guest, if you’re going to be a troll, at least have the courage to pick a unique name and stick with it.
What we all find so interesting is the Middletons have paid two MoS editors as their PR hacks for TWO DECADES. So when the Fail starts going in on negative stories against the Middletons, it begs the question. Are they still paying for good stories or is the Fail starting to turn against the Midds regardless?
I always just assumed that PP was a front/money laundering service for her brother’s dirty money? The stuff they have on their website is so cheap and tacky looking I just can’t imagine anyone becoming a millionaire off of it…
There was an article around the time of the wedding (think it was from The Guardian) about how the Midds being millionaires seems like a bit of a stretch because PP’s nearest competitors were making low 6 figures a year. So for them to make 7 figures+ seems fishy.
Telegraph
Royal Wedding: Middletons’ money – how was it made?
The firm Party Pieces is credited with making the family fortune. Andrew Gilligan examines the figures
the numbers didn’t add up. the article was very interesting the family has money from a trust setup by a great grandmother or something like that. that funded the kids private education. the parents business did not make them multimillionaires
It didn’t fund the educations of the Middleton children, the money was long gone by then.
That’s why I’ve always assumed. It’s cheap and nasty.
Hey, kind of like – well, you know.
Yeah I always thought that it was Uncle Gary’s pass-through. I don’t know if the UK has Party City or stores like there, but between those stores and Amazon, I am amazed that this business is still viable, unless there are some Hyacinth Bouquets out there who think buying from it makes them royally adjacent. I never bought this story at all.
I strongly suspect Uncle Gary financed this as well. It remains odd for a business of 30 years to still be run out of a barn and not franchised or anything else.
Uncle Gary has been open about how he has bankrolled not only PP but that entire family. He sold his computer recruitment firm for something like £75million years ago.
that just does not add up to me. no way, no how. rich people don’t give away their money unless they are laundering it to some extent. so if Gary is using his money as the major investor in their company that is all well and good, but the comparable numbers would not give party pieces enough sales to make them millionaires. the house in berkshire would not be affordable for the former flight attendant and her husband unless they came into some money from an inheritance or lottery or trust funds. if Gary helped pay for it did he give them a loan or did he buy it for them to live in and it’s still in his name. or did he say, here take this £x million as a gift. everything to me points towards the trust funds from michael middleton’s grandmother (the value left was not much but is equivalent of millions today also if it was invested in stocks the value would have multiplied) they say the trust still exists to this day and is administered by solicitors in Leeds.
It was some kind of shadiness. There is NO way they have lived as high on the hog as they have for all of these years on that business model.
I had a look on similarweb a few months ago to see how many hits the party pieces website got. I can’t remember the exact figure and (think it was around 200 000 a month) and it had dropped drastically from that. Anyway, I have an online business and know roughly how many hits you need to make a sale. There is no way they would be making millions on less than 200,000 visitors when all their products are low priced. Anyway I had another look on similarweb today and it wouldn’t let me look at their stats as their page disappeared. Wonder if ma midds made a call to them.
Could be they laid employees off/furloughed them but won’t openly admit it for fear of looking like they’re struggling, and the normal customer service positions etc aren’t being monitored any longer. Sounds crazy, but my company furloughed some people and cut the rest of us back to 32 hours, and we aren’t allowed to tell customers we’re out of office one day a week. So one day a week (usually Friday), emails, phone calls, etc aren’t getting answered until the next day (usually Monday). Could be something similar (but more extreme) with them.
That’s a good theory. It would explain the lack of response.
I have gotten the vibe that they (the Middletons) don’t handle customer complaints well in general. I feel like there have been similar stories about James’ marshmallow company.
Oh man, now I’m hungry for marshmallows. At this rate, I’m definitely going to gain the Quarantine Fifteen.
I think they would be hugely criticised for furloughing staff – the headlines would be insane. MOTHER OF FUTURE QUEEN FURLOUGHS ALL HER WORKERS. It’d be like the Beckhams. But i would be amazed if they hadn’t had to because how many people are having parties right now?!
Or it could be that some of them are sick with this virus, with a decimated staff as well, and no one is really steering the ship. I wouldn’t think PP is considered a “vital business “ that must be opened during a shelter in place time…perhaps Carole or Mike is running with a bare bones staff…? Also, the postal services are hit by this too, with people falling ill, less to deliver the millions of more deliveries, with people ordering all from home, not going out.
Even Amazon, as behemoth as it is, isn’t shipping in a timely manner right now.
I AM curious about this though….would really love the truth to come out…esp. if William is/has infused it with cash (we haven’t heard much about Uncle Gary either for a while).
Supposedly Uncle Gary was helping the Middletons along for years.Or so I have heard.
There is no reason for this business to be open, party supplies are not essential. It’s wrong to ask any employee there to risk their health to come in for that. The company should be closed, and customer should be refunded but should also be understanding that it may take some time.
It sounds like the company was a bit of a mess before all this though, so that’s probably not helping. But in the middle of a pandemic, worrying about a banner or other party supplies is kind of ridiculous.
The company is still stating they’re open for business and playacting online that everything is fine. Customers have every right to expect the company to keep their promises, or to expect the company to shut down and immediately refund the money. It appears Carole took the cash, hasn’t bothered to fulfill the orders, and is ignoring the complaints. Unethical if not illegal choice on her part.
Yes Lucy, the company warehouse and on-site staff should not be operating and working at this time. However that shouldn’t stop you from emailing customers and processing refunds. Customer service and payment processing can still be done from home. So there’s really no excuse to keep customers waiting for more than 3 days unless your customer service and payments staff are down with the illness. In which case, as owner she should have taken over or arranged for business continuity and put a notice on her website to update that there would be delays.
Maybe to you, maybe to me, too. But not to the 5 year old who’s birthday won’t include decorations. Kids have trouble understanding the hugeness of real life problems, so to them, it’s not ridiculous. And a mom or dad trying to explain what’s up is likely furious at being put in that position in the first place. Not ridiculous, nor is it life-threatening….but it is a topic of conversation, so please allow us to converse. I know “everything is relative” so for these families in lock down, looking forward to a limited celebration already, to not receive their promised and paid for party décor can be a big deal. Let’s not minimize anyone’s experience in these trying times. We are all experiencing the epidemic differently. Separated…but together.
They laid off a pile of staff before the epidemic. Carole was trying to sell the company before the epidemic. They were in serious financial trouble, just like James’s ridiculous marshmallow business, before the epidemic.
They should have closed their doors and ended the business last year. They stayed open to keep trying to grift and sell it for more than it is worth. Now they’re paying the price.
I think they are going to end up closing the business, esp if its true it’s in financial trouble before the pandemic – it won’t survive. I recall one article in the Fail where it hinted that PP was in dire straits and they were going to sell it which prompted a strongly worded reply from the Middletons denying it – they never reply to stories about their business and the fact that they did for that one meant that they were def looking for buyers. I think thats why Carole went on her media blitz last year – biggening the business up to get a buyer for it.
Lol carole is living her life via Kate and pippa which is unhealthy . Slowly we are getting banished on Middleton and next few months we can get major hints about cambriges. Maybe dan Wooten can get exclusive for rose bush.
That dress is a copy of the red dress Kate wore on the Canada trip. I remember it because it looked so ridiculous and like she was hoping to give a look when a gust of wind blew it up.
I thought that blue patterned dress looked familiar – at first I thought it was something Unable had worn.
Could be…she’s been known to duplicate in different colors/patterns.
Ouuuuhhh I think they don’t have any meat to write about because of the Sussexes cold shoulder, so they’re going after Kate, until they pond up some story about the Sussexes. Watch the dirt Waity Katie & Willnot will dish out about meghan in the coming days to get this story out of the papers. Same thing happened with the Rosebush story. You don’t want us talking about it? So find something to replace it with, the newspaper needs to be filled with something!!! And they did. And the bush was burried.
Same thing happened with James and the Nazi party supplies story. Pippa and the France gun scandal story.
Exactly! So many examples!
How can a party business survive when everyone is in COVID lockdown? I mean, I guess families might still be buying something like the banner described to mark a special day in the household, but there wouldn’t be near the volume of purchases as people can’t really gather en masse for parties.
The power behind the throne? Is she part of the Queen’s Privy Counsel and is assisting in monumental decisions???? The more time passes, the more I dislike her and how much of driving force she is in Kate and Wills relationship. She is strong willed at that. I don’t think Kate would have lasted that decade if it weren’t for her Mommy Dearest.
I agree. I always got bad vibes from her. Also, the customer service from PP has never been good so this doesn’t surprise me. They should have closed and refunded the money from the start.
lol
“Last year the company was littered with bad ratings, with just a 2.1 score on the Trustpilot website.”
This further proves that NormalBill is funneling foundation money to pay off their debts. This sham of a family has been all about photoops and fake paid articles pumping them up as some millionaires when in reality they make little to no profit.
The UK litterly has SEVERAL other reputable companies that offer the same service with a fraction of this one’s price. No wonder they changed the company to private entity as they wont have to report their shady finances
That’s an interesting thought, Awkward Symphony. Rumor is that William is so tight, he squeaks. If he financially helped to prop up Party Pieces, did he redirect and illegally use Foundation funds? This would make sense with multiple Foundation board members quitting in 2017, Meghan getting a look Foundation financials as she got herself up to speed, and wham — she and Harry separating themselves from Cambridge’s PDQ. If so, is that the big financial issue that ‘doesn’t directly involve the Sussexes’ that reporters like Tom Braybee and other sources have touched on when they say there is a huge ongoing legal issue regarding Foundation finances that no one is allowed to discuss due to an ongoing legal Investigation and a court issued gag order? Braybee said that if the story got out it would be a disaster for the Firm. I could see the gag order because these institutions are going to protect the Firm as a major leg of the fabric of Britain and thus protect William as future, future. If it came out that William and Kate knowingly used Foundation funds for personal use the shit would hit the fan and certainly rock the stability of the firm. That known but unreported story would certainly be another Royal Rota whip to keep William dancing to RR tune.
Ohhhhhhhh. You both have a good theory. Funneling foundation money to the Middletons would explain how PP is still afloat, and could account for the big legal issue that cant be discussed. That would be a huge scandal for the royal family. And it could also explain, at last in part, the falling out between William and Harry. If Harry finally figured out what was happening (or Meghan did), and confronted William about it, and William got ticked that they weren’t willing to play along…..William decides to join/encourage the Great Smear Campaign, Harry and Meghan separate from Kensington, and here we are.
Harry did say, “If you knew what I know…”
This is a VERY interesting theory!
And it would explain why Kate wouldn’t even look in their direction at the Commonwealth service. Her behavior was ridiculous.
It is possible that Pippa’s husband is also infusing them with funds. I think James (Matthews) did the same with one of James’ (Middleton) many failing “businesses” and even gave him a job on one of his properties in Scotland.
No matter what, Party Pieces is shady. For as meteorically as the Middletons rose from their airline days, the fall will invariably be as precipitous.
Bingo! Party Pieces finances have long been rumored to be shady AF. Not just Uncle Gary’s money either. It’s also been said that Cain has put money into the company and helps the Midds with expenses on the house. Part of a dowry, so to speak.
The timing of the article is interesting too. This swipe at Carol comes AFTER the nasty stories in response to H&M’s letter. Usually it’s the other way around. And Meghan’s case starts Friday.
Things that make you go hmmmmm….
The UK taxpayer has also helped ‘fix up’ Middleton Towers – when they bought it it needed a lot of work (its alleged William helped them buy it cash down) and ‘security’ was used as an excuse for £1mill of upgrade work done on the property because Unable likes to run home to Mummy at every chance she gets. They got a new driveway, new roof and an outhouse was converted into flats.
The Fail had an article that broke down what was done and the amount of money it cost.
Doria couldn’t even share a car ride with Meghan that people were complaining and yet this insane amount for security upgrades for the home of the supposedly rich in-laws went away pretty quickly. How can upgrades cost a million anyway?
They also used royal pressure to grant the Midds rare expansion permission to expand outbuilding at their previous property. Excuse was for RPOs. They got the planning permission through the council, which upped the value of the house considerably. Turned around and sold it to get the new house.
Someone needs to do a major investigation of that business. It’s been fishy for years. This is why British media can’t be completely trusted. With the royal family, they act as if they live in Saudi Arabia. Why would the royal family be off limits in a free society? Especially when they are paid for by the public? Don’t British citizens want to know if the RF is engaged in grift or illegal business—talking about you, Pedo Andy! Is the so-called “magic” of the family so important that they’re willing to forgive shady business behavior?
That yearly review of H&M “status” makes a little more sense if somebody realizes that collusion with tabloids in order to cover up financial shenanigans and embezzlement is going to come out. The DM will throw Cain, Unable and Carole under the bus twice if necessary.
Could be seen as “making it up” to H&M if their original requests are granted or some such.
We did get the story about the Sussex’s coming to spend the summer at Balmoral and some other more positive press for H&M before COVID-19.
I think that the Middleton family business isn’t as successful as the some people in the press wants everyone to believe. I think carol Middleton use a lot of the money to give her Kids especially Kate access’s to the ultra wealthy people in Britain. Now that her daughters are financially wealthy because of their husbands she letting her business fall apart because she knows she and her husband will be look after . I do believe that her brother help them out a lot and that carol realizes that Gary doesn’t look good for their whole middle class perfect family narrative that Middleton has created so Gary was dismissed he was no longer needed . I do think that carol and Kate are petty enough mean girls enough to leak stuff about Meghan to the press I do believe that Kate was just as involved in the bullying of the Sussex’s the way she acted at the church services shows that she is not a perfect Snow White future future queen like her fans would have everyone believe.
Exactly. I don’t think the Midds are too fussed about the fate of Party Pieces. Even if it crashes and burns, their house is paid for and their kids won’t let them go hungry. They’ll be paid for by the kids. They’ll be able to keep up the same lifestyle as they’ve had before.
And PP will most likely fold eventually after Carole and/or Mike’s death if not before. These family businesses only survive if the kids have been taught to take over and I don’t think any of the 3 have. Besides even if they were taught, Kate can’t take over and James’ business sense is terrible. So that just leaves Pippa. Who might prefer not to have it because it’s just extra work and she won’t need the money.
I’m surprised they just never sold and and retired years ago. She could write books on entertaining or some column in newspapers, but that’s kind of like work. I find them so abhorrent. Still wondering what those in your face paparazzi pics from Christmas were about. That was so weird and thirsty. So assuming they were making money off it.
At some point, I think Carole was writing a column in a baby-related online publication. At least that seems to ring a bell. Maybe it was a one-off though.
this is what the tabloids do. they build you up and then tear you down. they are flexing and showing they can make you and they can break you. a few months ago they were praising Carole’s amazing mom body as she was pappe’d wearing bikinis in Mustique. and now they have turned on her. she must owe them a juicy story and can’t deliver.
Yeah, it sucks when you can’t deliver the goods, once you have purposely gotten caught up neck deep in the media’s game.
That’s a huge reason why Harry has been smart and lucky enough NOT to play all these years. Palace p.r. and ‘gray men’ throwing Harry to the wolves constantly in favor of covering up Will/Cain’s similar transgressions turned out to be in Harry’s favor ultimately. Harry learned from his mistakes, and the media have nothing on him. Will/Cain did NOT learn from his mistakes, quite the contrary. Thus, British media outlets have loads of goodies on Penis With Teeth (PWT).
Yawn, cheap shot. Everywhere is closed in the UK, or they work from home. Unless you are key worker. As far as I know selling party goods aren’t essential.
Ethical businesses are stating on their websites that orders will be delayed X amount. Carole accepted payment, refused to deliver the goods, and failed to answer customer complaints about it. This is very shady on Carole’s part.
They will expose themselves to lawsuits if they don’t provide refunds to things purchased by customers and not delivered.
The stuff on the website looks cheap and crappy.
I’m pretty sure Carole has been ignoring her customers since the day kate wore her underwear at that fashion show at St. Andrews lol. I think this could be another warning shot fired at Middleton PR ltd, give us some content or we will start trashing you. I don’t think that business ever made huge sums of money. they were mostly financed by uncle Gary. I wonder what the whole point of this has been for Carole, she’s still stuck with the same mediocre business and no one in the aristocracy has accepted them. I wonder if her personal fortune has increased since kate married William. I know their daughters have married money, but do they support their parents, paying back all the years that they supported them? Other than fame, what have they actually got out of Kate’s status?