Carole Middleton is ‘deeply upset’ by her Party Pieces collapsing

Carole Middleton has been left deeply ‘upset’ by the collapse of her mail-order business – but admits she has been ‘naïve’, it was revealed today.

The Princess of Wales’s mother has been accused of ‘betrayal’ after Party Pieces went bust, owing £2.6million to creditors already warned it is ‘unlikely’ they will recover their money. 

Party Pieces helped send Carole and Michael’s three children to the £42,930-a-year Marlborough College as well as buy a £4.7million manor house in Berkshire. But the business started from their kitchen table has gone to the wall with huge debts.

A close friend of Mrs Middleton told the Daily Mail’s Richard Eden: ‘Carole is understandably upset and deeply disappointed in this situation.

‘Over the past five months she really has done her best to find a buyer, who not only would take the business forward, but would also honour any outstanding debts.

‘Carole believes in accountability and accepts she had been a little naïve to step back and trust someone else to run the business she had spent decades nurturing and it’s been desperately sad to see the company sold off in this way.’

Yesterday, I reported that she was accused of ‘betrayal’ after Party Pieces went bust, owing £2.6million. Above: Carole with her husband Michael

Carole pictured with Kate (right) and Pippa (behind her) when she launched the firm while pregnant with James

The friend claims: ‘The truth is Carole had stepped back from the business over three years ago, trusting the day-to-day running to a new management team. 

‘Sadly the business took a turn for the worse and by the time she realised, it was just too late.’

However, one of her suppliers told Mr Eden yesterday that Mrs Middleton had been giving personal assurances that debts owed by Party Pieces would be repaid in full earlier this year.

A statement published by administrators earlier this week revealed that Party Pieces owes the taxman £612,685.

The company also owes £218,749 to RBS bank for a Coronavirus Business Interruption loan, £456,008 to other creditors and £1.4 million in unsecured loans.

Party Pieces has been sold in part to Teddy Tastic Bear Company Limited for £180,000, the document says, with the firm keeping on 12 employees and remaining at its current base in Ashampstead, Berkshire.

The report adds that many owed cash will be out of pocket as a result of the business failure, saying: ‘Based on current estimates, it is uncertain whether there will be funds available to enable a distribution to preferential creditors. 

‘It is unlikely there will be funds available to enable a distribution to unsecured creditors.’

The report details how the pandemic began to cause the company problems saying that revenue contracted from £4.5 million to £3.2 million between 2021 and 2022, with the company making a loss of £900,000.

The friend claims: ‘The truth is Carole had stepped back from the business over three years ago, trusting the day-to-day running to a new management team’ 

James Sinclair took on Party Pieces. He started up as a party entertainer aged 15 and now operates a £30million leisure empire that includes an ice cream company and a variety of children’s attractions

Carole and Kate Middleton pictured shopping in Chelsea in 2006

Prince Louis looks tempted as mum Kate watches him, George and Charlotte decorate cakes for a street party in Cardiff

It said: ‘Management attributed this to the Covid 19 pandemic resulting in reduced social gatherings and a reduction in discretionary spend due to the cost of living crisis. This caused constraints on the company’s cash flows.’

In early 2023 the CEO resigned and the Middletons and other members of the board tried to shore up the company and find a buyer.

But the report said: ‘The company experienced increasing creditor pressure, including threats to present winding up petitions and other legal proceedings.’

In the face of the financial challenges the company approached 175 potential buyers and eventually settled on a deal for £180,000 which was for stock worth £120,000 and £60,000 for intellectual property, computers, contracts and other equipment.

All 12 employees will transfer to the new company, the administrator report said.

Children’s entertainer turned ice cream entrepreneur James Sinclair runs £30m ‘Partyman’ empire operating soft plays and firm behind teddy-bear making kits

The saviour of the Middleton’s family business is a children’s party entrepreneur from Essex who calls himself the ‘Millionaire Clown’ and says he bases his ‘outrageous’ marketing style on Sir Richard Branson. 

James Sinclair started up as a party entertainer aged 15 and now operates a £30million leisure empire that includes an ice cream company, nurseries, soft play centres and a variety of children’s attractions. 

The businessman confirmed on Instagram that he has now taken over Party Pieces, which was launched by the Princess of Wales’ parents Carole and Michael Middleton from their kitchen table in 1987. 

‘The latest acquisition,’ he wrote over an image of a news article announcing the purchase. 

It is not yet clear what price Mr Sinclair paid for Party Pieces or how big the remaining liabilities were.

A larger than life character, Mr Sinclair balances the daily management of his main business, Partyman, with a career as a podcaster, vlogger and inspirational speaker. 

He’s also written several books, including The Millionaire Clown, which discusses ‘how to make it in business and entrepreneurship’. 

His YouTube channel boasts more than 600 videos that spread his business philosophy and give snapshots into his daily routine. 

On his personal website, the entrepreneur says he began his children’s party business in his ‘nan’s spare room’ at the age of 15, with the target of earning £40,000 a year and owning a house by the time he was 20.

‘By the time I’d been going for 18 months, and I was 17, I was fully booked every weekend for a year ahead and was turning over £500-£1000 a week,’ he writes. 

His Partyman firm now includes nearly a dozen different brands, including Rossi Ice Cream, Marsh Farm, Lee Valley Animal Adventure Park, Twizzletops nurseries and Teddy Tastic – which sells teddy bear making kits. 

Mr Sinclair’s business nous will be much needed at Party Pieces, which plunged to a loss following a difficult pandemic. 

Mr Sinclair is a larger than life character who was once a children’s entertainer

Mr Sinclair is also an inspirational speaker, lecturing on how to make money

Mr Sinclair’s business nous will be much needed at Party Pieces, which requires a boost after plunging to a loss following a difficult pandemic 

Sources said that the sale had been carried out through what is known as a pre-pack administration, meaning that the firm had appointed insolvency practitioners before it was sold without some of its liabilities.

In a 2018 interview, Mr Sinclair named Virgin founder Sir Richard Branson as his role model.  

‘I was very influenced by the way he was prepared to be a little bit different and outrageous to get noticed,’ he told growth business. 

‘As an entertainer that was a natural fit and I decided that it was what I needed to do too-I needed to stand out from the competition and I soon became well known in my local area for being a character and for offering something different. 

‘That helped me to build the Partyman brand and people booked me because they knew the name.’

The entrepreneur said he used social media to boost his profile in the hope of making Partyman ‘the best family entertainment brand in the UK’.

Mr Sinclair calls his marketing style a ‘little bit outrageous’. Pictured is one of his online promotions 

Mr Sinclair is seen in this photo enjoying an ice cream with former UKIP leader Nigel Farage 

Mr Sinclair’s decision to buy Party Pieces came just seven months after Carole launched her party paraphernalia business in the US and used a cardboard cut-out of herself to promote the move.

Will Wright, head of restructuring at financial advisory firm Interpath and joint administrator, said: ‘Party Pieces is a well-established brand with a proud British heritage, but like many other companies across the retail space, had been impacted profoundly by the effects of the pandemic and the ensuing restrictions on social gatherings.

‘We’re pleased to have been able to conclude this transaction which sees the business acquired by James Sinclair. We wish him all the very best for the future.’

The Middletons had wanted to sell Party Pieces with a dowry and avoid insolvency, but this proved impossible, insiders told Sky News.

Interpath Advisory was reportedly appointed as administrator in court this morning.

Friends revealed in April that Carole, 68, and Michael, 73, are planning to step away from the firm to spend more time with their grandchildren

The sale of Party Pieces comes just 12 days after King Charles’s Coronation, where Carole and Michael were among the close family in attendance.

The business has also been selling a range of Coronation-themed items on its website.

These include Coronation Flag Bunting (£4.99 for three metres), which features the side profile of the King in gold on a Union Jack background, a set of Great British Party hats and flags (£5) and Union Jack paper plates (£4.99 for eight).

The Middletons owned just over half the company while two investors owner the rest. They have appointed Interpath as strategic advisers.

In April a Party Pieces spokesman commented on news of Interpath’s involvement: ‘We are working with our advisers to secure additional investment which will help support the business as we look to embark on the next phase of our growth plan.’

From BA air hostess and John Lewis trainee to the mother of the future Queen: Carole Middleton’s extraordinary rise 

Former British Airways hostess Carole Carole — whose father Ron was a painter and decorator and her mother, Dorothy, the granddaughter of a miner — spent her first six months in a council flat in Ealing. 

It has been claimed some of Prince William’s circle called her ‘Doors to Manual’ in reference to her past.

She says she was always driven and, keen to get on, took a job with the Prudential aged 16, but loathed it, returning to school where she gained four A-levels.

After John Lewis, she worked briefly as a secretary before becoming an air hostess, which she says was different back then.

‘You had to speak another language. It was almost like being at university’. 

Kate Middleton and mother Carole visit the Spirit of Christmas shopping festival at London’s Olympia. Carole started on the shop floor of John Lewis but quit because it was ‘boring’

The Duchess of Cambridge holds her son Prince George seated next to Queen Elizabeth II and Prince William, back row from left, Prince Philip, Prince Charles, and the Duchess of Cornwall, Prince Harry, Pippa Middleton, James Middleton, Carole Middleton and Michael Middleton, in an official christening photo for Prince George at Clarence House in London in October 2013

It was there that she met Michael — a manager for an international air station and she organised their wedding, right down to the chilli con carne and bonfire in the evening.

Next came a brief stint in Jordan, where they embraced the social scene at the British Embassy before returning to the UK and the semi in Bradfield where, aged 32 and pregnant with baby James, she set up Party Pieces.

‘It was a good idea or it wouldn’t have taken off,’ she says. And it did, like a rocket. From the wooden shed near the Wendy house in their back garden to a huge business operating from an impressive complex of Dutch barns in Berkshire.

Carole, meanwhile, never took her foot off the accelerator. She worked and provided a loving home — complete with white rabbit marshmallow birthday cakes. In July 2013, she and Mike moved into Bucklebury Manor, a £4.7 million pile with vast grounds.