Kate Middleton married Prince William on April 29, 2011, in a monumental ceremony that established her as a fixture of the royal family. Even her jewelry on the big day signified her official entry into royal life: she wore the Cartier Halo tiara, on loan from Queen Elizabeth II. Now, three children later and over a decade in tabloids and the spotlight, it’s tough to remember that Kate was once an ordinary British citizen who came from an ordinary British family… or did she?
Much of the tabloid stories around her and William’s wedding called her “the commoner who would be queen,” per British Heritage. But what’s the real story of the Middleton family?
Long story short, Kate comes from a very well-off family. Their financial capital has meant major access for the Middleton family, and it even facilitated Kate’s chances of meeting William. So here’s the whole scoop on how the Middleton family made their money, how much they have, and how they spend it today.
Kate Middleton’s grandparents: Where did she come from?
Kate Middleton’s grandparents, like many people in England at the time, were involved in the war efforts. According to Hello!, her paternal grandfather, Captain Peter Middleton, served in the Royal Air Force during WWII, while her grandmother, Valerie Glassborow, worked at the Government Code and Cypher School. In a return to her roots, as Hello! noted, Kate visited Bletchley Park in 2019 to meet with kids involved in a code breaking workshop, telling them that her grandmother “was so sworn to secrecy” that she never opened up about her time at the GCCS.
Interestingly, Kate’s grandfather actually met the late Prince Philip once, thanks to his role in the air force. According to Peter Middleton’s obituary in The Times of London, Middleton was photographed with Philip at the Heathrow Airport in 1962 when they returned from a two-month tour of South America, where Middleton served as a co-pilot. Kate’s grandfather actually got to meet Prince William too, at his 90th birthday party, though he died shortly before the couple announced their engagement in 2010.
Aviation has played a big role in the Middleton family’s history — and we’re not only talking about Captain Peter Middleton’s time in the air force.
Who are Kate Middleton’s parents?
Kate Middleton’s parents, Michael and Carole Middleton, have climbed considerably in the British social ladder thanks to their daughter. Carole was born to a middle class family in London, according to The Sun. As the AP reported (via Toronto Star), Carole is a descendent of miners, a detail that came up time and time again when the news broke that her daughter would be marrying into the royal family. Ahead of Kate and Prince William’s wedding, one of her cousins told the AP, “We’ll still be working class, but it’s a nice feeling to know there’s something there in the family, that we’re going to be related to royalty.”
Carole met Michael when she was working as a flight attendant for British Airways while Michael worked as a flight dispatcher, per The Sun. Michael hailed from a more prestigious family with distant ties to the aristocracy and one that handed down trust funds to him. The couple married in 1980 and they had three children: Kate, Pippa, and James. Interestingly, Michael moved his family to Jordan from 1984-1986 because of his job (per Daily Mail). After they settled back in England, Carole founded her company Party Pieces in 1987. That decision was a huge turning point for the Middletons’ financial status.
How the Middletons’ party business changed their lives
So, how did Party Pieces come to be? According to the official website, Carole Middleton launched the company after she’d been planning her daughter’s birthday party (without specifying if it was for Kate or Pippa Middleton) and saw “a gap in the market for time-pressed parents.” It also offered a creative way for her to earn income while home with her children. “I decided to take myself off to the Spring Fair in Birmingham where I found a good selection of suppliers,” she said on her website. “From there the idea evolved. I produced a little flyer which I circulated in local playgroups and very soon I was using our garden shed as a picking/packing room and office.”
The company prides itself on quick orders, last-minute planning, and festive decor for any event worth celebrating. Party Pieces blew up, and in 2013, Hello! reported it was estimated to be worth $40 million. As the company grew, Carole and Michael Middleton invested in real estate, even buying an apartment in Chelsea, London, that their adult children lived in, according to The Telegraph. So where does this leave Carole and Michael? Well, according to Town & Country, their net worth reportedly sits at $67 million.
Business acumen clearly runs in the family. According to the Daily Mail, Carole’s brother, Gary Goldsmith, is also a multi-millionaire thanks to his own business, an IT recruitment firm. So clearly, there’s money around. But how did Carole and Michael use their fortune to get Kate close to Prince William?
How Carole and Michael Middleton got Kate close to the royal family
After Carole and Michael Middleton were well established with Party Pieces, they decided to relocate their family to Bucklebury in 1995, according to The Sun. In addition to putting their feet up in a luxurious neighborhood, Carole and Michael were able to send their children to prestigious schools. According to Express, Kate Middleton went to St Andrew’s Preparatory School, Downe House School, and then the top-tier Marlborough College. Top-tier and pricey, that is. In 2021, Express reported the annual tuition was at approximately $53,000 U.S. dollars.
What they did is what good parents have always done, they’ve invested in education, it cost them a lot of money,” journalist Michael Cole said of Kate’s parents in the documentary “Kate Middleton: Working Class to Windsor” (via Express). “They sent all of their three children to good schools, and in the case of Kate to Marlborough, which is one of the top public schools… where she did quite well.”
This education laid the foundation for Kate’s acceptance to the University of St. Andrew’s in Scotland — yes, the very place where Kate would end up connecting with Prince William in 2001. But this wasn’t the end of the Middleton parents contributing financially to the story of Kate and Prince Charles and Princess Diana’s firstborn son.
How much Carole and Michael Middleton contributed to Kate’s wedding
Even though Kate Middleton’s wedding to Prince William was a royal affair, commoners Carole and Michael Middleton were still very much involved, both as parents and as financial providers. According to The Sun (via ABC News), the parents spent $41,000 on a pre-wedding barbecue for ceremony guests who didn’t make the official reception guest list; apparently, the Buckingham Palace event didn’t have enough space for all of the 1,900 people who went to the Westminster Abbey event.
That wasn’t the end of their expenses, though. According to the Daily Mail, Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Charles covered most of the costs of the wedding but Carole and Michael offered to pitch in. This meant that they might have covered part of the cost of the “service, music, flowers, decorations, receptions and honeymoon.” While this would be a hefty split, the outlet surmises that the Middletons likely were only asked to contribute to something more specific, like Kate’s dress or the wedding cake. For reference, Kate’s dress cost roughly $55,000 U.S. dollars, and the cake could’ve also set them back around that same amount. What the Middletons actually paid for Kate’s wedding remains private but no doubt they shelled out some major cash for the happy day.
