The Crown’s final episodes dropped today, and it looks like I’m getting something on my wishlist: a somewhat accurate portrait of how Carole Middleton stage-managed her daughter’s relationship with Prince William. Keep in mind, even Kate’s sugary biographers can’t avoid that historical reality, that Carole groomed Kate to do whatever was necessary to secure that specific ring. Katie Nicholl has written about it, so has Tina Brown, all of the royalist, palace-approved media knows it for a fact: without Carole’s management, Kate and William would have been a short college fling and nothing more. Once Carole and Kate got their claws into William, they never let him go. Well, at least some of that makes it to The Crown:
Carole Middleton is portrayed in The Crown as a meddling “Mrs Bennet” figure who carefully masterminded her daughter’s relationship with Prince William. The mother-of-three features heavily in the second part of the sixth and final series, released on Thursday, orchestrating the Princess of Wales’s switch from Edinburgh University to St Andrews as well as a place on the same gap year expedition to Chile as the future King.
When a newly single Kate tells her mother that the Prince will attend the fashion show in which she is due to take part, Mrs Middleton replies: “Heels not flats, you still want to show off those legs. It’s our duty to make use of the assets God has given us. Does he know you’re back on the market? Maybe find a way of letting him know.” Her daughter replies: “Honestly, you’re worse than Mrs Bennet.”
Mrs Middleton had earlier encouraged her to buy a specific glittery dress because “it’ll show off your figure, which the boys will love”. Elsewhere, when the Princess of Wales tries to tell her mother to back off, pointing out that he is a “royal prince”, Mrs Middleton gives her a pep talk. “When I first met your father he was way out of my reach, I was just a lowly stewardess. Trolley dolly,” she said. “I felt like the luckiest woman in the world … Then I realised that maybe it was the other way around, that he’d been lucky to have me. Never underestimate yourself. Never think there’s anything in this world you’re not good enough for.”
Kensington Palace has declined to comment on the episodes but sources close to the Middleton family suggested the portrayal of Mrs Middleton was unlikely to be well received. One said it was important to note that The Crown was a work of fiction.
Peter Morgan, the show’s creator, produced one scene in which Mrs Middleton and her daughter met Princess Diana and Prince William during a shopping trip in 1996. When the late Princess asks Kate’s name, Mrs Middleton answers for her, saying: “Catherine”. Her daughter replies: “Kate’s fine,” and her eyes meet the Prince’s.
At home in Bucklebury, the future Princess is shown cutting out pictures of the Prince and sticking them in a scrapbook. She also has a Prince William magazine. But years later, she chastises her mother for encouraging her to sign up for an art course in Florence which the Prince was expected to join as well as the gap year Raleigh expedition to Chile. “I thought you’d thank me. You said you liked him,” Mrs Middleton responds, insisting her reasons were not sinister.
“Yes but then I grew up,” Kate replies. “Once you had the idea fixed in your head you never stopped.” She adds: “You don’t know him. What if William isn’t right for me? What about what I want?”
“You don’t know him. What if William isn’t right for me? What about what I want?” Yeah, Kate never said or felt this. She was single-minded in her pursuit of William, and it was an effort she shared with her mother. I wonder if the recent attempts to cover up that historical reality are an effort to spare William, honestly – the whole thing makes him seem so dumb, like he was too stupid to understand that he was preyed on by this grifter family and he got conned and honey-trapped by Carole and Kate.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Netflix.
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- 166648, The Duchess of Cambridge and Carole Middleton attends the opening day of Royal Ascot in Berkshire. Ascot , United Kingdom – Tuesday June 20, 2017. UK, FRANCE, AUS, NZ, CHINA, HONG KONG, TAIWAN, SPAIN & ITALY OUT Photograph: © Stephen Lock, i-Images, PacificCoastNews. Los Angeles Office (PCN): +1 310.822.0419 UK Office (Avalon): +44 (0) 20 7421 6000 sales@pacificcoastnews.com FEE MUST BE AGREED PRIOR TO USAGE
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- Carole Middleton attending the wedding of her daughter Pippa Middleton and James Matthews at St Mark’s Church, Englefield, Berkshire, UK. 20/05/2017.,Image: 513165692, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: NO UK USE FOR SEVEN DAYS- Fee Payable Upon Reproduction – For queries contact Avalon.red – sales@avalon.red London: +44 (0) 20 7421 6000 Los Angeles: +1 (310) 822 0419 Berlin: +49 (0) 30 76 212 251, Model Release: no, Credit line: – / Avalon
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- 62362, LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM – Tuesday June 7 2011. Matching Middletons! Pippa Middleton and Carole Middleton step out in matching nude shoes! The mother daughter duo were out with Pippa’s father Michael Middleton at Harry’s Bar in Mayfair. ***NORTH AMERICAN USE ONLY*** Photograph: ©Optic Photos, PacificCoastNews.com **FEE MUST BE AGREED PRIOR TO USAGE** **E-TABLET/IPAD & MOBILE PHONE APP PUBLISHING REQUIRES ADDITIONAL FEES** UK OFFICE:+44 131 557 7760/7761 US OFFICE:1 310 261 9676,Image: 525175204, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: WORLD RIGHTS, DIRECT SALES ONLY UNLESS STATED OTHERWISE IN CAPTION – Fee Payable Upon Reproduction – For queries contact Avalon.red – sales@avalon.red London: +44 (0) 20 7421 6000 Los Angeles: +1 (310) 822 0419 Berlin: +49 (0) 30 76 212 251 Madrid: +34 91 533 4289, Model Release: no, Credit line: Optic Photos / Avalon
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- 167256, Carole Middleton, the mother of the Duchess of Cambridge and Pippa Middleton, spectates from the Royal box on day four of the Wimbledon Tennis Championships. London, United Kingdom – Thursday July 6, 2017. UK, FRANCE, AUS, NZ, CHINA, HONG KONG, TAIWAN, SPAIN & ITALY OUT Photograph: Ã?© Stephen Lock/i-Images, PacificCoastNews. Los Angeles Office (PCN): +1 310.822.0419 UK Office (Avalon): +44 (0) 20 7421 6000 sales@pacificcoastnews.com FEE MUST BE AGREED PRIOR TO USAGE,Image: 533038972, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: WORLD RIGHTS, DIRECT SALES ONLY UNLESS STATED OTHERWISE IN CAPTION – Fee Payable Upon Reproduction – For queries contact Avalon.red – sales@avalon.red London: +44 (0) 20 7421 6000 Los Angeles: +1 (310) 822 0419 Berlin: +49 (0) 30 76 212 251 Madrid: +34 91 533 4289, Model Release: no, Credit line: i-Images, PacificCoastNews / Avalon
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- Carole Middleton arriving at Westminster Abbey, central London, ahead of the coronation ceremony of King Charles III and Queen Camilla.,Image: 774175184, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: -, Model Release: no, Credit line: Andrew Milligan / Avalon
Have not watched this season. Their pink tinted glasses portrayal of Cowmill and Charlie is beyond the pale for me.
The entire thing is bonkers to me.
The above photo, hat in hand, one ugly duckling to me.
That was my attitude after sticking it out thru S5 🤢 — Chuck’s glowup was hard to take. However, watched S6:E4 when S6 first half dropped, despite hating Imelda Staunton as QE2. It was ok. Since then all reviews of S6 last half say there’s too much boring Willy & Kitty, so I’m fast-forwarding thru most of it. Massive mistake in S6:E6, adviser to QE2 supposedly holds up copy of Chicago Sun Times, BUT logo of The Times of London is unmistakable 🤮.
Sounds like they got Carole right. But Kate? She never said, “Honestly, you’re worse than Mrs. Bennet.” She has no idea who Mrs. Bennet is, then or now.
Oh precisely, and what’s this nonsense about Mike Middleton being such a catch? He was a flight dispatcher of BA, not the Chairman of the Board. He was middle class to Carole’s working class, which probably mattered immensely to her.
Flight dispatcher is not a middle class profession.
@Bravo: His family background, not his profession. Allegedly, he was left a trust to educate the three kids privately, which the press reported on many years after Waity Khhatie married Pegs.
That is my first reaction. Kate is obviously not a reader.
Well, there was that 2005 movie 😀
She never said that, and she never said “what if William isn’t right for me.” Nope. She was all in with the William stalking.
William is a grown ass man, honey trapped indeed! He makes his own decisions
William was so into Kate it took a decade before he finally proposed. So yes he makes his decision, but he didn’t fall for kate like the Crown is pretending.
@MSFF Michael Middleton is one of four sons of Peter Middleton who was an airline pilot. The family background could be described as upper middle class with links to the aristocracy. There is a Middleton family firm of solicitors based in Leeds, Yorkshire. All four of the Middleton brothers attended Clifton College, which is classified as a ‘public school i.e. a fee paying private boarding school in Bristol.
Peter Middleton died in 2010 leaving £500,000 to be divided between his sons. It is likely that his sons’ education was at least partly paid for with assistance from a family trust fund established by his aunt Olive Lupton. However, these funds are believed to have been used up by the time Michael Middleton’s children were born.
There is no inherited wealth to explain the lifestyle of Carole and Michael Middleton. Their first family home was a four bedroomed farmhouse (actually half of an original large farmhouse) and was being bought on a mortgage. They moved to a much larger property in Bucklebury when Kate was 12 or 13. This house and some adjoining land cost them over a £million with no further mortgage. Their business, Party Pieces, was believed to be making a profit of around £130,000 a year. There has never been any official explanation to account for their millionaire lifestyle. Money laundering for Carole’s brother’s alleged drug dealing is one possibility.
Ya they had to be living on credit hard by the time the waity years even started. Honestly does the palace not do any financial vetting?
£130,000 a year net profit would NEVER have bought them that life-style.
Yes by average middle middling class levels it’s a comfortable income but by no way can you send 3 children to the premier public boarding schools in the land at a cost of £26,000+ a year EACH (at the time) not including uniforms, school trips, tutors and extra-curricular activities. Just not possible.
It certainly does not account for the Buckleberry home or the High Street Ken apartments, holidays, Casa de Bang Bang etc etc.
It’s highly likely as someone previously speculated that Party Pieces made it’s money pre GDPR via customer lists and money laundering for uncle Gary who was credibly accused of drug dealing and even involved in a sting by law enforcement officers.
The Middletons have to be the most hide in plain sight criminals I have ever seen in the UK, which likely explains why Chuck and Bill allowed the business to fail.
Now Kate is entirely dependent on William financially, she will have to tow the line, accept to be the new scapegoat and accept whatever terms she gets in a separation.
@anotherlily and yep this was previously established that Michael Middleton was the beneficiary of a Trust which was used for his education.
And yes technically he was upper middle class with links to the Aristocracy but not wealthy.
The real wealth looks to have come from party pieces or Uncle Gary.
Kate was an active participant in all this.kate was after that ring. The part about her meeting Diana was a bit much. Kate even said she never met diana.
As much as Debicki has done a good job as Diana, Morgan has inserted her too much with the ghost Diana stuff. Diana would not have been a fan of Carole or Kate and had she been around, the Middletons would not have made the inroads they did.
I agree. If Diana had lived she wouldn’t have stood for Kitty’s stalking her son.
Much like Diana’s dad, Earl John Spencer, drunk out of his mind on her wedding saying to the cameras how Diana will do her duty for the country… *barf*
Charles sure didn’t he was a bad husband
Drunk? No. He was recovering from a stroke and his gait and speech were impaired. It was widely covered at the time, even before the wedding took place, that his walking Diana down the aisle would be a challenge for him, and he was widely praised for being able to do so.
John Spencer had a “better” one than that: he called Diana “fine breeding stock” on camera. Poor woman.
He was ill, not drunk. It was touch and go that he’d even be able to walk Diana down the aisle due to the after-effects of a serious stroke.
He was not drunk as initially presumed. He had suffered a stroke some time before. Not sure when.
I will never watch this shitshow, but if you do, feel free to report if the whole story is rewritten and a lie or whether at least a little bit of the truth comes across! 🙂
I really enjoyed the first 4 seasons – but season 5 just put me off the show. It felt like the creator had been intimidated by the Palace hate campaign (which even roped in government officials). So I don’t plan to watch season 6. It is a shame because the first 4 seasons were stellar – and then the show just ends with what looks to be a whimper, which really is one of the worst ways a long-standing television series can end. Endings matter – and a bad ending can poison the legacy of a show. I also think that the show should have ended after season 4 – because the closer we come to the present, the more difficult it becomes because it is about real persons. It can’t really be a period piece anymore.
This is how I feel. Loved the first two seasons even with the realization that a lot of complexity couldn’t/wouldn’t be covered. Was meh on Season three but got into it at the end, and loved four. I couldn’t even finish Season 5. I don’t know if it was because criticism of the Queen however light was easier when it was in reference to events 50 years ago or if establishment pressure got to him, but it has totally fallen off and I honestly think it’s going to be one of those shows where people say in the future ” nothing after season XYZ exists”.
I agree with this. I didn’t even finish the last season, and I have no desire to watch this season.
I always thought the best ending for the show would have been just with Diana going to Paris, maybe even getting in the car that night. Peter Morgan did a whole damn movie about the events after, we don’t need it played out again.
But if they were going to insist on showing her death again, then I thought the natural ending would have been Margaret’s death, QM’s death, and then the queen’s golden jubilee, all 2002. Still 20 years ago, there’s still some space, and it would have made sense – her mother and sister are dead, but the Crown still goes on.
Instead Morgan capitulated to the royals and its become another attempt to rehab Charles and camilla, yet again.
@Dee LOL I say that about West Wing. Nothing after Season 4 exists for me. I ended up liking the last season (Jimmy Smits!) but the first four seasons are definitely the best and the ones that I watch over and over again.
@ArtHistorian agreed – I feel like after season 4 Charles got into his feelings – likely realising that his mother’s health was failing and decided to take control of the show.
Julian Fellowes then departed and all of a sudden Charles and Camilla are being depicted as ‘human’ and better looking Royal adjacent actors are being cast to portray them.
Total sh!t show.
The way seasons 5 and 6 have been portrayed says so much about the Royals and the UK Government who also started bullying Netflix.
Same, Sam. I have no issue with CarolE’s portrayal here, though it seems like they tried to fluff up K’s image a bit. The Middletons “won” (if marrying into this family counts as anything other than losing), but given PW’s place in society, there were definitely many more like these two.
Which brings me to the other family: PW and his family did such an incredibly poor job? Nah, they didn’t care. His family is filled with people whose main qualification in a wife is womb space and continuing to live as if they are single whenever they are not in the public eye.
Nothing says groomer more then when your mother tells you “its your duty to use what god has given you” to catch yourself a prince. My god she threw her at him and he used her. This proves this was no love match just a gold digger pimping out her daughter. Glad The Crown portrayed her this accurately.
Kate was an active participant. She even would rush over to protect William from other women flirting with him
The anecdote of her saying she was Williams girlfriend when she wasn’t to keep other women away. This story appeared in several biographies of Kate
Yes I know she was but I’m talking about how Carol was her groomer.
Although they get the Carole part right, it also looks like Kate is infantilized in this show too as if she wasn’t an active participant in pursuing William.
Seems like Kate was just as relentless in her pursuit for William. And eventually he must have thought that she’ll do for the job. I wonder if, looking back all these years later, she’s happy just being tolerated.
The Middletons have the characteristics of an enmeshed family. There is a wealth of literature about this. Enmeshed families have an unhealthy level of closeness and co dependency. Parents are overinvolved with their children’s lives. The result can be children who never fully grow up because they don’t know how to be independent.
I thought that headline pic was Jennifer Aniston for a serious role playing w/o makeup and botox
@barrett – Hahaaa – same!!!
Same!!!
Damn, that’s pretty accurate
+1
me too!!
Yes! Hilarious. I did a double stare to work out who it was.
Me too! I thought this was some kind of “special guest star” surprise
Chiming in to say absolute same, but now that I’ve looked at the image a couple of times, it’s an interesting peak into what JA might have looked like aging naturally while smoking 1+ packs a day.
I thought it looked like the female version of Fabio at his worst…
“Never think there’s anything in this world you’re not good enough for.”
Whatever Kate does, she barely deserves a passing grade.
Unless they hand her a participation medal.
“… sources close to the Middleton family suggested the portrayal of Mrs Middleton was unlikely to be well received.”
Looks like it’s purely a *them* problem then. I mean, chewing gum while one is being introduced to QEII for the first time. Smoking, drinking, signet ring. Perfecting her grifting for years. Undoing behavior-related things Nanny Maria has taught the kids.
That quote really jumped out at me. I don’t believe for one second that Carole was giving Kate this kind of positive reinforcement. If Kate had high self esteem and believed she could do anything, she would have tolerated a lot less toxic behavior from Will.
I doubt the writers will dare include scenes of William being turned down by aristo ladies and his settling for Kate. I wonder how they will include scenes about j e c c a Craig.
I know. Exactly why I’m not going to watch. Unless they portray Kate’s desperation in its full and truthful horror, why bother. Her stalking is accepted by everyone, inc her fans. How are they going to get round Waity Katy? If this stuff isn’t in the show, what does this say about the writers’ fear of the BRF or possibly the meddling of the BRF in this series.
I was all on board until he put in that they met Diana. What utter nonsense.
I’ve seen the Lifetime movie a zillion times and plan to savor these final episodes. The part about Kate having another boyfriend she conveniently breaks up with always seemed like a strategy. It’s straight from the Rules girl playbook. Carole absolutely owned that book.
There was a Prince William magazine? What the hell?
It’s about the only thing that’s accurate in this last instalment. The portrayal /betrayal of Diana is terrible.
I wonder at what point William realized how Kate and her mother did all this to land him-and if he was charmed initially but is now icked out?
Am so glad Netflix mentions Kate’s chasing of William in Chile, the year before St Andrew’s. She missed him.
Omid Scobie says she spent her Gap year in Italy studying Art & Italian. She didn’t stay 1 semester. She chased William around, and, as a backup plan to meet billionaires, she worked month of August at a marina in Southampton as a waitress / deckhand to wealthy yachties.
This I did not know. Wow!
I think she was a yacht stew during Cowes Week, so only a week. And one or two photos of her in Florence with the other English students.
And Kate going to Florence for some Art History programme, because Will was expected to go there on that programme as well during the gap year. She followed him to Chile, Italy and St Andrews. Her stalking was really creepy, I wonder how they’ll handle George’s future to avoid the same thing (eg likely announcing schools and uni when he’s due to start and not in advance).
Kate always holds her right hand to show the sapphire diamond ring. Over the years, this is a constant. To me, there’s something “off” about this. But now, this behavior reads like a sign of pride over having gotten the ring, that it’s a prize, she “won.” Put in the context of her mother’s relentless ambition and her own competitive nature, this behavior seems to reveal more about the steely Kate than the mild mannered version the press pushed out for public opinion.
I figured the Middletons wouldn’t like the portrayal of Carole as Pimp Mama. Kate having no agency of landing Big Willie and Big Blue is ridiculous. Kate had her eyes on the “prize”. Three kids and 12 years later Kate learned the Crown is not what it’s cracked to be. Outed as a racist, slammed for poverty tourism, still an outsider despite being the mother of a future king. Careful what you wish for.
Yup. I think she realized Pippa is the real winner here.
Nah, this was a team effort.
So THAT’S where Kkkhate learned how to exit a car gracefully….
Seriously. Pimp Mama was the OG flamingo. Taught her everything she knows. What a nasty ol’ piece of gristle.
Emme That is so so so funny!
I’m glad Carole is getting outed as manipulator that she is, especially to all those who don’t pay attentions to the royals but may watch the crown.
Anyway where has this season been hiding? I didn’t even know episodes where dropping today and it wasn’t even front and centre on my Netflix. Any where’s Charles? He’s usually kicking off via the daily Mail. It seems this seasons has been buried a little, I hope it’s not because Netflix have conceded to the palace/media in some way.
I’ll miss the crown, it was good, but this seasons hasn’t been that great so far. I feel like the Claire Foy Matt smith seasons were by far the best and set the standard for the show.
I agree! I’m going to miss the show. Season 5 was terrible, but this season has been pretty good.
I’ve been wondering how they’ll portray Kate and her mother. I’m so concerned they’ll make out it was a love story, rather than a stalking, that I won’t be watching; I don’t think I could stand the absolute travesty of this being scripted as anything but hunting down a husband.
Poorly read journalists bug me. Mrs. Bennet didn’t have the brains to mastermind anything.
Appears to me that they are trying to clean up Kate’s stalker image by focusing on Carole Middleton as a modern day Mrs. Bennet. This is judging a book by it’s cover, but I find Kate accusing her mother of being worse than Mrs. Bennet a step too far in the writer’s imagination.
Totally imaginary, I doubt Kate’s ever read anything by Jane Austen. The only factual thing about Carol(E)’s portrayal is her naked “Hyacinth Bucket” social climbing ambitions. Despite her efforts she’s still mutton dressed as lamb and lipstick on a pig.
The English classics will have certainly been part of her Kate’s education , and Carole’s education too. Jane Austen is one of the classic authors studied at GCSE and A Level. The problem with Kate is that she never developed any interest in literature beyond the standard, school-studied books. She was asked about her favourite books in an interview and her response was that she liked ‘the classics’. She picked out Dickens as an example. A collection of these classics adorned her pretend desk when she was filmed in her ‘office’ at KP. (It was in reality the KP formal drawing room and the ‘desk’ was the lamp table behind a sofa.
This is another indication of having grown up in an enmeshed family as mentioned above. She isn’t of low intelligence but her intellectual development will have been stunted by the dynamics of enmeshment. She does not know how to think independently and the consequences can be seen in her public behaviour as a representative of the Sovereign. Her numerous ‘wardrobe mishaps’ reflect her mother’s advice about showing off her assets.
Looks at picture of CarolE actress, goes nuts trying to figure out who actress is, Googles it, finds out it’s the same woman who plays the badass aunt in House of the Dragon.
Eve Best is a fabulous actress!
“And he got conned and honey trapped by Carole and Kate”
I can also agree with this. They both made sure that he seals the deal(by proposing and marrying K). How many years later, he seems to be so bitter and unhappy and taking it out all on HM.
SM is also tearing up the WK romance on the Crown as a borefest lolZ..
Some critics are complaining that the crown is spending way too much time on the William and Kate story. I agree.
I had no idea Rhaenys (Eve Best) was playing Carole!! I’m excited to see her at least.