Times Carole Middleton's Failed Party Business Caused Controversy

Before there was Princess Kate, there was Party Pieces. The company, which offers an array of decorations, games, tableware, and costumes for those who want to host big blowouts, was founded by Kate Middleton's mother, Carole Middleton, in 1987 — when Kate was just five years old, long before she was a royal. As Kate grew up — and Party Pieces grew, too — Carole decided to make the company into a family affair, hiring Kate as project manager. When Kate moved on to the Crown, Carole remained in charge of the business — that is until it experienced a post-pandemic hit, and she sold it to entrepreneur James Sinclair for an undisclosed sum.

Party Pieces hasn't just experienced financial troubles. Over the years, it's been beset with a variety of controversies, from a perceived affront to Princess Diana's legacy to a row over skimpy Halloween costumes. Read on to take a journey through its complicated history.

Whenever a royal wedding rolls around, some look upon the soon-to-be-crowned and her family members with suspicion, wondering what's really motivating the marriage: true love or aspirations of grandeur. Such was the case with Kate and Carole Middleton. In December 2010 — a few months before Kate's April 2011 wedding — a post on the party pieces blog, the Party Times, raised some eyebrows. Although the bulk of the blog post, titled "Angelic Christmas Party," focused on how to prepare decor for a holiday party, its opening line seemed to allude to Kate's future as a royal: "Every little girl dreams of being a princess — and there's nothing a princess likes more than throwing a party." Some cynics interpreted this as an attempt for Carole to capitalize on the royal wedding — which they saw as a greedy faux pas. 

Speaking to the Daily Mail on the matter, an anonymous courtier said, "The Royal family is very keen to ensure that the wedding is not seen as a business opportunity for the Middletons and their associates." Party Pieces chose not to comment. 

"Princess" and "zombie" are two of the most common Halloween costumes. Why not combine them for a unique twist? That's what Carole Middleton must've been thinking when she decided to sell a "Sleeping Zombie Princess" costume via Party Pieces. It's hard to imagine the costume would have raised any eyebrows if it weren't for Carole Middleton's connection to the royal family. When the product appeared on the Party Pieces site, some Brits disapproved, believing that depicting a dead princess of any sort was an insult to the memory of the late Princess Diana. 

Simone Simmons, a friend of Princess Diana, was one of the offended parties. "I hope people boycott the site. This is really scraping the barrel. It's twisted and warped," she said (via Daily Star). 

At the same time, plenty of people thought the controversy was overblown — and took to social media to share their disbelief. A user shared a similar sentiment on X, formerly Twitter, suggesting that any perceived Diana connection was the product of bias. "It never occurred to me to think of Princess Diana ... What a stretch & so ridiculous. Slow news day mate?" she typed.

The "Zombie Princess" debacle wasn't Party Pieces' only costume-related controversy. In 2015, the company caught some flack for a certain series of Halloween costumes aimed at girls between ages 12 and 16. These costumes — titled "Hot Stuff" (a devil getup), "Fallen Angel," and "Midnight Mischief" (a twist on the vampire) — featured strappy tank tops, miniskirts, lace-up bodices, and fingerless gloves. The young girls modeling them on the website often wore makeup and high heels.

Claude Knights, who serves as the chief executive of child protection charity Kidscapes, issued a statement calling the costumes inappropriate. "This kind of merchandise is another contribution to the sexualization and commercialization of childhood. These costumes are produced for wide age bands starting at age four. This does cause concern, as younger girls have no real comprehension of the messages that they are sending out when they wear age-inappropriate clothing," he expressed (via Daily Mail). "Parents do, of course, have freedom of choice, but it would be helpful if more thought were given to the wider issues surrounding the sexualization of childhood."

Following the hubbub, Party Pieces quietly removed the costumes from their website. 

Great Britain tries to look out for the environment by ensuring that businesses with sales exceeding £2 million abide by a set of recycling guidelines known as the Packaging Waste Regulations. In 2013, Party Pieces failed to comply — and, as a result, was penalized by the state's Environment Agency. Presented with the option to go to court and be charged with a fine or make a donation to charity, Carole Middleton opted to donate. Party Pieces directed a gift of £12,650 to the Woodland Trust, a nonprofit that previously showed its support for the royal family by challenging Brits to plant six million trees in honor of the Queen's Diamond Jubilee. The business also joined Paperpak, an organization that handles packaging waste compliance. 

In an emailed statement to the Telegraph, a representative for Party Pieces confirmed that the company was no longer skirting any rules: "In 2012, it came to our attention that due to a misunderstanding, we were breaching one of the guidelines. Party Pieces corrected this error immediately and is now fully compliant with the Packaging Waste Regulations." 

The 2012 London Olympics surely led to plenty of watch parties across the city — some of which might have been decked out with Party Pieces products. Carole Middleton's company released a number of decorations and activity sets as part of its "Celebrate the Games" collection, including paper chains in the Olympic colors, a ring toss game with the same color scheme, and a "stadium scene setter" backdrop. While this might not seem like a controversial move at first glance, it was certainly risky in the eyes of the law. Businesses were strictly forbidden from capitalizing on the 2012 Olympics unless they had been deemed official sponsors of the event — and Party Pieces received no such designation. 

Not only did Party Pieces release a line of Olympic-themed party goods — the Party Times featured a blog post titled "Celebrate the Games and Support Team GB," which included links to "Celebrate the Games" products. This caught the attention of the Daily Mail, which wrote up an article pointing out that Party Pieces may have breached Olympic regulations in promoting their new collection. While it's unclear if the Olympic Delivery Authority ever came after the business legally, the close call certainly caused a stir. 

Believe it or not, Party Pieces faced another copyright controversy later that same year when the company released a party goods collection based on the new James Bond movie "Skyfall." Called the "Secret Agent Party" collection, its accompanying banner on the Party Pieces homepage featured an illustration of 007 actor Daniel Craig next to the film's name and release date, Friday 26th October. The banner was a bold — and legally dangerous — choice, given that Eon Productions owns all merchandising rights for the famous franchise. 

Speaking to the Daily Mail, a representative for the production company stated that the marketing and legal department was aware of the potential copyright breach. "The filmmakers are very protective of everything they have built up. It is something we take very seriously," he said. 

After the Mail reached out to Party Pieces, they stealthily removed the banner from their website — yet they continued to sell vaguely Skyfall-themed products as part of the Secret Agent Party collection, such as silver balloons emblazoned with the numbers "0" and "7."