Why Kate Middleton's Parents Were Once Victims Of A Smear Campaign

While there is a long list of royal relatives who have gotten caught up in major scandals, no one would have ever thought to put Michael and Carole Middleton's names on that list. But Kate Middleton's parents were once victims of a smear campaign that no one saw coming. 

Back in 2023, it was reported that the Middleton's Party Pieces empire had collapsed before it was sold to a buyer. Carole, who was the face of the company, had said in the past that she got the idea to create Party Pieces after she had a hard time finding party supplies for her daughter Kate's fifth birthday. Now, as far as why the company went bust, entrepreneur Jim Sinclair said that he had taken over the business from Carole because she wanted to spend more time with her grandchildren. He told The Telegraph in an interview, "Carole had reached her mid-60s and quite rightly wanted to spend more time with her family," but added that the company's " investors put into place the wrong team with the wrong strategy. Mistakes were made."

Those mistakes, along with the pandemic, might have contributed to the Middleton's £2.6 million debt. And because of it, Carole and Michael have been targeted by an ugly smear campaign in their hometown.

As if losing your company and being millions of pounds in debt wasn't enough, Carole and Michael Middleton were targeted by a vicious hate campaign in their own town of Bucklebury in Berkshire. Apparently, some vendors who worked with Carole before Party Pieces went bust are still owed money. But some anonymous people behind the hate campaign decided to make the Middleton family's life hell by shaming them with their posters. One source told The Sun, "Carole and Michael are incredibly popular. Everyone is horrified by these posters. It's unfair to do this in their home village, just yards from where they live. Their son James lives nearby and so does Pippa who has moved around there recently with her family so they all have to be confronted by this. They are doing their best to make things right and don't deserve this kind of abuse."

But investor James Sinclair, who did his best to save Party Pieces, says that Carole shouldn't be subjected to the hate and abuse she's gotten for the demise of the company. That's because it's not completely her fault.

In his same interview with The Telegraph, Scottish businessman James Sinclair says that, like so many other people who had a hard time keeping their businesses afloat during the pandemic, Carole Middleton did her best to save Party Pieces before it became too late. He said, "I don't think it's Carole's fault. She sold half the business at 65 years old to an investment firm and in my view, they ruined it."

For their part, Carole and Michael Middleton have not made any comments about the matter. But as a former flight stewardess turned successful businesswoman, Carole is someone who knows how to reinvent herself. Plus, she has been dubbed the British Kris Jenner for a reason. Back in April 2021, she told Good Housekeeping that she's always had a passion for turning nothing into something. She told the publication, "I'm not someone to sit on the sofa for a long time. I have a lot of energy and enjoy my work. I grew up watching my parents, who both worked extremely hard. My father was a builder, and my mother worked part-time in a jewelry shop and later, would go to work in a factory. I remember them working hard to make ends meet and give us a lifestyle."