The Family and Background of the Duchess of Cambridge, the Middletons 1, Until 2022

[Amelia]

I dunno...I mean, I'm sure he knows he wouldn't be getting these opportunities if not for his sister's connection with the royal family, and that Hello isn't interested in him for his own sweet sake, but where the royals are concerned there's something to be said for a gracious "thanks but no thanks." When her family are seen to be cashing in like this it increases the feelings that the whole lot of them are taking advantage and it tends to rebound unfavourably on Kate. With so many people already queuing up to throw rocks at Kate for being a tasteless vulgar common or garden gold-digger, this sort of thing isn't helpful to her.

I personally believe that people who are interest in trowing rocks will always find a reason no matter what. IMHO opinion I don't see this as James taking advantage, there has over the last few years been so much press intrusion into the Middleton family, from the articles in tabloids to books detailing the inheritance left by her great great (so on) grandfather, I don't begrudge him the chance of a little publicity for his business. As long, of course, as he keeps it about his business. Of course when/if he starts talking about Kate then it is time for her to tell him to keep quite, as of right now I don't feel it is as big a deal as some try to make it out to be.

I think it would be a terrible shame if Kate´s family spoil such a long standing romance, which hopefully will end in marriage, by their seemingly money and spotlight grabbing behaviour.

Money grabbing behaviour. My goodness it is an article in Hello, when he starts doing paid appearances advertising the chance to buy a cake from the brother of Prince William's girlfriend I think you can start talking about money grabbing behaviour but not just yet. As for her parents company, it was going long before William and seemingly doing quite well for them.

 

[muriel]

Money grabbing behaviour. My goodness it is an article in Hello, when he starts doing paid appearances advertising the chance to buy a cake from the brother of Prince William's girlfriend I think you can start talking about money grabbing behaviour but not just yet. As for her parents company, it was going long before William and seemingly doing quite well for them.

Surely the parents business should stop selling princess related childrens accessories as that would be cashing in on their daughters relationship !!!

 

[Wisteria]

Surely the parents business should stop selling princess related childrens accessories as that would be cashing in on their daughters relationship !!!

If Kate doesn´t marry William then they certainly won´t be cashing in on their daughter´s relationship.
I am just afraid that the family´s public behaviour will spoil Kate´s chances.

 

[Idriel]

Hello give one type of report and that's fawning.Everything is good, everyone is so beautiful,happy and so very in love.

You must have missed the part when they viciously trashed William for dumping Saint Kate. They know to be nasty when they want to.
I stand by my word that they have been courting the Middletons.

As for James he sells or makes or does whatever with cakes. Hello asked him to bake some cakes. Would they have asked if he wasn't Kate's brother? Probably not, but he is her brother so they asked him and he, having the sense not to turn down the free publicity, accepted.

Following your own logic: would have Sophie won the Rover contract had she not been married to a Royal? Probably not, but hey, how stupid would it be to turn down such an opportunity? She didn't talk about her hubby while posing in front of the car, didn't she?

You are basically sanctioning the commercial exploitation of Royal connections, which is your right, but you will find most Britons find it distasteful.
What James is doing is no different than what Sophie did and I don't see why he should get a free pass when she was vilified.

Surely the parents business should stop selling princess related childrens accessories as that would be cashing in on their daughters relationship!!!

Completely different issue.
The NoTW tried to stir up a controversy about that and they failed miserably.

 

[Amelia]

I stand by my word that they have been courting the Middletons.

And I still disagree

What James is doing is no different than what Sophie did and I don't see why he should get a free pass when she was vilified.

Unless you know something about James and William that the rest of us don't then yeah I think it is a little different. When Kate starts posing in advertisements for James cakes then it will be similar.

 

[Warren]

The cake kit cup cake company controversy

Reader warning: Those who are offended by James Middleton's promotion of his cake kit and cup cake company should ignore this post and move on to the next.

For the rest:
James is not selling cakes, he is selling cake kits.
Here's the website: Welcome to the Cake Kit Company
and here are the cake kits
(cup cakes are in another tab)

There's no 'princess' cake kit, but there's a 'castle' cake kit.
The obvious question that must be asked is this: should James Middleton be held to account for his castle cake kit cashing in on Kate?

 

[Wisteria]

I rather like the idea of his cakes, I wonder if he is the first one to think of this kind of kit, it makes cake decorating so easy, or at least it looks easy.

 

[Ella Kay]

What James is doing is no different than what Sophie did and I don't see why he should get a free pass when she was vilified.

While I'm not sure that James's free press in Hello! is doing his sister any favors when it comes to public perception, I do think there is a clear difference between James and Sophie when it comes to benefiting from links to the royals: James isn't involved with any member of the family, and Sophie was and is.

Even though I'm of the mind that James probably shouldn't have taken advantage of Hello!'s offer for an article, I think that his doing so is far different than it would be if Kate were giving magazine interviews to promote a business and exploiting her connection to William in the process. If Kate were doing so, I think the situation could be more easily compared with Sophie's. James and Sophie aren't in the same proximity to the royals, IMO.

 

[TonyaR]

Ella Kay I hadn't thought about it in those terms, but you're absolutely right! In order to compare James Middleton properly, we would have to compare his situation and interview with Hello magazine to Sophie's SISTER doing such a thing, if Sophie had a sister, rather than Sophie herself.

It isn't the same thing at all, is it? And James Middleton didn't mention Prince William, he didn't mention Catherine, and he didn't mention royalty. In essence, he isn't exploiting Prince William or the royals at all. He isn't exploiting his sister either, if he didn't mention her.

 

[Cassi]

Has someone read the new book "Kate Middleton: Princess in waiting", and can tell me how it is?

 

[Warren]

I've made a thread in the Royal Library for "Kate: Kate Middleton, Princess in Waiting" and included a link to a review.
Judging by the review, there is very little in the book that wouldn't already be known to British Forum regulars.

 

[Myself1995]

I found the Party Pieces website that Kate's parents own on another website, and I poked around a bit there. Both websites had really cute stuff, but if anyone's website looks like they're cashing in, it's this one - a color-it-yourself castle and throne? A color-in princess fancy dress? It would look fine on anyone else's site, and definitely something I'd buy for a kid - but it does look a little funny here.

http://www.partypieces.co.uk/product/cp%5Ftoys+and+games%5Ftoys%5Farts%5Fand%5Fcrafts/6440.htm

 

[Ella Kay]

I'd think castles and thrones would be pretty standard for children's "princess" birthday parties.

 

[Myself1995]

They are, and you can find similar stuff at Party America or any other store - it just looks a little funny here. As a matter of fact, I had this almost exact cake for a Cinderella party when I was 7, only my mom put candles on it and the babysitter lit the candles and caught the dolls hair on fire. I notice his kit doesn't come with candles - he's smarter than we were.

Welcome to the Cake Kit Company

ETA:
Similar to theirs, but not nearly as cute;
Princess Decorations

 

[Sonjapearl]

The Royalist is reporting the News of the World will have an scandalous exclusive on Kate's uncle. The tabloid says her uncle did drugs and had flings with prostitutes at a villa Wills and Kate once stayed at.

The Royalist - Alleged Sex & Drugs Scandal Hits Kate Middleton's Family

The way I see it, its the News of the World. What are the chances that they ever accurately report on anything?

 

[Ella Kay]

The Royalist is reporting the News of the World will have an scandalous exclusive on Kate's uncle. The tabloid says her uncle did drugs and had flings with prostitutes at a villa Wills and Kate once stayed at.

Here it is. Not pretty, but I don't really see how it would reflect badly on Kate herself: News of the World: Kate's uncle fixes hookers and supplies ecstasy

 

[Myself1995]

yeah, they've a video of him up selling drugs and bragging that he is going to be related to William and that William has stayed there. He's apparently her mother's brother. But I agree - unless they have a video of Kate doing drugs, I'm not sure it makes a difference - I think he says that he doesn't even live in England.

 

[Ella Kay]

I think he lives on Ibiza, if I read it correctly. It's not great that William's been in his home, but besides mentioning a little bawdy humor from William, I don't think he ever even alludes to William or Kate having participated in drug-taking or anything else illegal.

 

[Principessa Cano]

Kate Middleton uncle drugs & vice shock | Prince William stayed with Gary Goldsmith | News | News Of The World

Oh my, it seems that Kate's uncle is a bit of a scoundrel. Check out the video at the end of the article. He's quite the gentleman.

 

[Lakshmi]

I just found this article and wanted to post it but Principessa was first.
This Kate's uncle is impossible. He is also very stupid being so open with people he barely knows. How couldn't he know that drug dealing is a crime?
I just wonder how it would affect Kate & William relationship. And what will be the media outcome. Lets just wait and watch...

 

[carinthia]

I just wonder how that sort of uncle and his lifestyle has been able to be a secret all over the years of the kate-wills-relationship ? Or is it the right moment when the whole world is discussing an upcoming engagement of kate and wills to bring that uncle to public light?

 

[Skydragon]

I found the Party Pieces website that Kate's parents own on another website, and I poked around a bit there. Both websites had really cute stuff, but if anyone's website looks like they're cashing in, it's this one - a color-it-yourself castle and throne? A color-in princess fancy dress? It would look fine on anyone else's site, and definitely something I'd buy for a kid - but it does look a little funny here.

Why does it 'look funny', there are dozens of places that you can buy colouring books and craft items especially along the Princess theme, most of the supermarkets and all of the toyshops sell them. There are quite a few places that sell Princess outfits, party bags etc. Party Pieces was doing this sort of thing before Kate & William even met (1987). I had a Princess cake made for one of my daughters back in the early 70's, (this one survived the candles, Myself1995). Then there was Princess Barbie and her castle .....

 

[Myself1995]

I wasn't saying anything bad about Kate, or that they were exploiting her - I don't have an opinion on her one way or the other- don't know enough about her. But they were saying upthread that Kate's brother's website was exploiting her connection to the BRF because it had a castle cake - her parent's website has everything from a castle to a princess outfit you can make.

Anyway, I think this morning what's on her parent's website is the least of her problems. I didn't see the article about her uncle anywhere else, though, so it may just all blow over.

 

[angieuk]

I think its for the best this News of the World article has come out now. This will either make or break the relationship now. William has a choice either to ride out the storm with Kate or call it a day and decide to walk away. Yes Kate cannot help he is her mother's brother but it will be interesting to see what William does in the next days/weeks as I am sure Prince Charles will be disgusted about this uncle.

 

[Myself1995]

That's true. Friends of the royal family, and even members of the royal family have been in scandals before ( remember Harry's drug scandal when he was in school? and I seem to remember Prince Edward's wife having some sort of scandal about using her royal connections to get work ) so they may just let the whole thing blow over.

Anyway, I didn't really thing that William was going to announce a royal wedding this year. I would have been very suprised if all those rumors were true. And he may not end up with her after all. He may find someone else. Or she might.

 

[Wisteria]

I really can´t believe that the royal family will be suprised by the article about Kate´s uncle. They will have known for a long time, all royal visits outings and people accompanying them are fully investigated. The only embarassment for the BRF now is that all this seems to have become public and I am inclined to agree with angieuk that the coming days and weeks will be crucial.
The point is, does William really want to marry Kate? If he doesn´t then this is the perfect occasion to walk away without being called a cad.

 

[AuroraB]

IMO it wuld be just the opposite, he would be called a cad since he probably had previous knowledge of her uncle's activities.

 

[Zonk]

Why would have William had previous knowledge of Kate's uncles activities unless he was told by the people who had Kate's family investigated? I am sure they probably knew about it and unless the uncles' activities in any way posed a threat to William chose to look the other way?

In regards to Kate's family...no family is perfect and if William and Kate break up its not going to be about her uncle. Let's face it....the Windsor (who I like) are not the perfect family and have a drug problem or two. And if the family thinks that finding a bride in the British artistocracy is going to be drug free...well...I got a bridge in Alaska I can sell them. Basically, Kate should not be held resoonsible for her uncle. You can pick your friends not your family.

 

[Roslyn]

Oh dear! Uncle Gary is a real liability for Kate, on so many levels. I bet he won't be invited to the wedding, if there is one.

 

[AuroraB]

I think you're probably correct in that assumption!