The funniest thing about the Carole and Michael Middleton’s Party Pieces business collapsing is the distinct lack of gossip and commentary about it in the British media. The Daily Mail, Tatler, The Telegraph, they’re all doing straight reporting about the situation around Party Pieces. There’s no commentator chiming in about how a potential bankruptcy for the future queen’s parents looks awful. There’s no royal biographer briefing the Mail about how the Middleton brand is going down the drain. All of those commentators are so focused on the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s business dealings and putting the nastiest spin on Harry’s “paymasters,” meanwhile their future queen’s mother mismanaged what was supposed to be an eight-figure business into what looks like total insolvency. Nary a whiff of commentary about the fact that the Middletons will likely have to pay a “dowry” to offload the failing, debt-ridden business? Well, here’s more straight reporting – apparently, the Middletons need to offload PP in a hurry because two of their partners and financial backers pulled out rather suddenly. Holy sh-t.
Carole and Michael Middleton put their Party Pieces business up for sale after two of their three financial backers pulled out, it has emerged. Steven Bentwood, chief executive of parent company Party Pieces Holdings since 2019, and investor Darryl Eales resigned as directors in March, according to documents filed this week at Companies House. It was only after their departure that the Princess of Wales’s parents called in the consultancy Interpath to help them find a buyer for the company they founded in 1987.
Mr Bentwood, who previously built up his own lingerie company, and Mr Eales, a former chairman of Oxford United Football Club, and Erik Anderson, an American millionaire, all invested in Party Pieces when it became a public limited company four years ago. Now, only Mr Anderson remains as a director, together with Mr and Mrs Middleton.
It comes after reports that the Middletons are considering handing over a six-figure sum to a buyer in order to offload the business. Party Pieces lost £285,000 in 2021, taking its total deficit to £1.35 million, according to publicly available accounts.
A source close to the sale process confirmed that Mr Bentwood and Mr Eales had resigned as directors before Interplan was asked to give advice. The Middletons have asked Interplan to advise them on “options”, which include a sale or finding new investors.
The company is hoping it will receive a major boost from the Coronation – at which the Middletons are expected to be guests – by promoting a range of items for use at street parties.
Sky News reported this week that one of the leading contenders to buy the business is Club Green, one of its rivals, which is also a family-owned business selling party goods. Potential bidders have been told that Party Pieces has shown “some recent UK performance contraction during international expansion and focus on margins”. The Middletons are reportedly offering a six-figure “dowry” payment to sweeten any deal, with Sky quoting a source who said they were “trying to do the right thing for the business and its stakeholders”.
[From The Telegraph]
Um, is no one going to do a follow-up on WHY two of their business partners suddenly exited the business in March? Is no one going to do a follow-up on why Carole and Mike took on these business partners in 2019? Is no one going to ask if it’s tacky as f–k that the future queen’s gauche, bankrupt mother is hoping that her coronation invitation helps spur Party Pieces sales? I always thought that James Middleton was the black sheep of the family, the one with zero business sense, a well-connected grifter with a reverse Midas Touch. But no – the apple didn’t fall far from the grifter tree. Party Pieces has been a house of cards for a while. Sounds like those business partners just wised up to the extent of failing business this year. Good lord.
Also: how have Carole and Mike been funding their lavish lifestyle for years as their business went under? Does it have anything to do with that pot farm found adjacent to Middleton Manor?
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid, Cover Images.
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