Title : Carole Middleton's First Interview for the Telegraph: 'Life Is Really Normal - Most Of The Time'
link : Carole Middleton's First Interview for the Telegraph: 'Life Is Really Normal - Most Of The Time'
Carole Middleton's First Interview for the Telegraph: 'Life Is Really Normal - Most Of The Time'
She's the mother of one of the most famous women in the world and the grandmother of a future king. More than eight years after William and Kate's engagement was announced, Carole Middleton has given her first ever interview to royally trusted publication The Daily Telegraph. What has prompted the decision after all this time? Party Pieces is 30 years in business "and I thought I should celebrate a little", although she added, over the years "it's proved wise not to say anything". The interview profiles Carole's journey from working as a trainee at John Lewis to becoming a self-made millionaire. There are also several brief references to Kate, Pippa and James.
On first interview nerves:
‘Two things you need to know. Carole’s very, very nervous, and she doesn’t do sofas,’ the Telegraph’s team on the shoot warned me the night before I went down to Bucklebury in west Berkshire to interview her. ‘When we asked her to perch on one,’ they continued, ‘Carole’s response was, “Who sits around on a sofa?”’
Sure enough, a couple of days after the shoot, when Carole, clutching a soya latte (she’s recently gone vegan/flexitarian) and slightly late, sweeps into the boardroom at the HQ of Party Pieces, the business she set up in 1988, she doesn’t sit down but immediately takes me on a tour of her empire. Just like that. I don’t quite know what I expected – not trumpets, but perhaps some sense of ceremony – but then I don’t think she knew what to expect either. She’s never done an interview before.
The tour goes on so long that at one stage I wonder whether she’s planning to do the entire interview on the hoof as part of a cunning ruse to get it all over and done with before I’ve had time to press record. It does, however, give me time to adjust my retinas to the life-size Carole, inevitably smaller, but also more youthful, than the version the world has become accustomed to. This, lest we forget, is the future British king’s grandmother – arguably the second most famous granny on the globe.
Carole herself, however, is a vision in a khaki Ralph Lauren blazer and black T-shirt, black skinny M&S trousers (her legs are phenomenal) tucked into Russell & Bromley riding boots, and minimal jewellery – small drop earrings, a couple of gold rings and a thin gold chain with which she constantly toys. It is classic Middleton style, although Carole tells me she far prefers dresses (‘not ones that are tight round the middle though, my shape’s changing’). But the voice is what everyone wants to know about. Is it stewardessy (in her early 20s she worked for British Airways)? Elocutioned? Lynda Snell? None of the above. The best description is probably modern posh – not affected, not mockney.'
A supportive text from Kate:
'You can see why the Middletons remain such a close family (Catherine texted her on the shoot to wish her luck) and why they all, spouses in tow, gravitate towards Granny Middleton. ‘I do love a good party,’ she says later. ‘I’m definitely a night owl and a real chatterbox. My children look at me sometimes…’
On her work ethic and early working life:
'Carole Goldsmith, as she was, seems to have had a strong work ethic from the start. Her father Ron was a painter and decorator. Her mother Dorothy, aka The Duchess (because she always looked so impeccable), was a character. ‘Everyone adored my mother,’ she says when I relate how the taxi driver who picked me up from a local train station and drove me to the Party Pieces HQ, told me she’d been a close friend of The Duchess.
Carole spent her first six months in a council flat in Ealing. She initially left school at 16, got a job with the Prudential in Holborn and hated it. ‘It was one of those massive offices with rows and rows of desks.’ So far, so early 1970s. But Carole knew she could achieve more and asked Ron if she could return to school to do her A levels. She got four: art, economics, English literature and geography, which she wanted to teach. ‘But my parents couldn’t afford to put me through college, so I thought I’d see if I could get a bit of money together and fund myself.’
While she’s recounting this, she suddenly remembers she got a job – she can’t remember the year – on the John Lewis A level trainee scheme. This has always been considered the gold standard in retail and was extremely hard to get on to. Carole is bemused by her own memory lapse: ‘Gosh… how did I forget? I can’t even remember when it was. I’ll have to check with Mike.'
Creating Party Pieces and a sense of achievement:
'By the time they returned to the UK in 1987, Catherine was four and a half, Pippa 18 months younger and Carole, now 32, was pregnant with their third child, James. ‘I thought, “Oooh, bills to pay.” But I also had this strong feeling that I hadn’t achieved anything. I got married at 25, had Catherine at 26…’
Listening to Carole talk about those early years, what comes across is her resourcefulness and stoicism. She feels they were lucky. ‘Running a business is really very simple: you buy things and sell them for a profit.’ Mike’s decision to quit his job was, she says, their wild card. She is very clear that the business was her idea. ‘And it was a good idea or it wouldn’t have taken off.’ Were there no sleepless nights over the financing? ‘We never took really huge risks. We had to fund our own growth,’ she replies. She doesn’t get stressed, she says, although she was clearly anxious about this interview.'
On the business involving the family:
'They did a lot of modelling. Catherine was on the cover of one of the catalogues, blowing out candles. Later on, she did some styling and set up the First Birthday side of the business. Pippa did the blog. I still value their ideas and opinions.'
Carole reveals she stopped reading online stories about herself a year ago:
"Well, I thought it was better to know what people thought. But it doesn’t make any difference. I’m not really sure how I’m perceived now,’ she says. ‘But the thing is… it is really normal – most of the time."
As the interview drew to a close, Carole discussed her love of Christmas trees and how she likes to fill the house with them, including one in each grandchild's room. I have wondered if we might see the Cambridges spend Christmas with the Middeltons this year. We've seen them alternate between both families over the years, and it's both Louis' and Pippa's son Arthur's first Christmas. Finally, Carole is asked about the possibility of retirement: "I don’t see myself stopping [work]. If I did I’d have to have so many projects on. I’d have to redecorate the house. I’d love to travel, but then I’d miss the grandchildren. I’ve got a billion ideas I still want to do."
It's a very interesting and unexpected piece. The writer notes on several occasions how nervous Carole was and the "long pauses" which followed innocuous exchanges, particularly when discussing topics related to her grandchildren, Bucklebury Manor and fashion. I expect a number of discussions happened and ground rules were set in place with the paper in advance to avoid the piece steering towards revealing royal insights. It's a very fine line and at points one could feel the awkwardness of the balancing act in the article. I got the sense from writer Lisa Armstrong she perhaps struggled with the 'invisible barrier' too, likely hoping to switch gears more to Carole's family life. Indeed, looking at the quotes Carole actually said relatively little. What do you think of Carole's decision to give her first interview? What insights did you find most interesting?
Click here to visit the Telegraph and read it in its entirety (you may need to register to read it fully, it's currently free and not part of the premium section). Carole also shares a selection of Christmas party tips in the Telegraph's Stella magazine tomorrow.
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