Party Pieces, the party supplies company owned by Catherine of Wales’ parents, went bankrupt in May, leaving £2.6m (more than €3m) of debt , according to a report by solvency specialists. The unpaid invoices include more than 612,000 pounds in taxes (713,244 euros).
It all started in 1987. Carole Middleton couldn’t find any decorations she liked to celebrate her eldest daughter Kate’s fifth birthday, so she decided to create Party Pieces and quit her job as a flight attendant. The proposals presented by the company were well received, so that the business continued to prosper and the annual profits were ever greater. Only two years later, Michael also left his job at British Airways to devote himself fully to the company that the woman had created and which had modern offices. In this way, they were able to send their three children to elite educational centers, such as the University of St. Andrews, where Kate met Prince William.
In 2012, when the eldest daughter had already become the Duchess of Cambridge, the millionaire Middleton couple bought a mansion near the royal estate of Windsor worth 4.7 million pounds (5.4 million euros).
But the limitations of social gatherings due to covid affected the company specializing in party decorations. At the beginning of the year, unpaid suppliers threatened the couple with legal action. In May, bankruptcy proceedings were launched and it was sold to British businessman James Sinclair for an undisclosed sum.