Carole Middleton is renowned as being a doting grandmother to her four gorgeous grandchildren – but could the proud nana have a secret favourite?
The Middleton family business, Party Pieces, sells a range a personalised birthday cakes, with many designs catering especially for young children.
On its website, the company advertises the large rectangular cakes, which usually retail at £22.99, using stock photographs and names.
Many of the cakes use the monicker George – the name of Carole, 64, and Michael Middleton’s eldest grandchild – with one Spiderman design reading: ‘George is 6!’
Carole Middleton, pictured with her husband Michael, 70, is renowned as being a doting grandmother to her four gorgeous grandchildren – but could the proud nana have a secret favourite?
Prince George, the son of the Middletons’ eldest daughter Kate and Prince William, turned six at the end of last month.
One of the cakes that reads ‘Happy Birthday George’ is jungle-themed with pictures of lions – a coincidence given the Duke of Cambridge recently revealed his son’s favourite film is Disney’s The Lion King.
There are also a number of special occasion cakes emblazoned with the name Archie, which is the name of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s three-month-old little boy.
However, it’s also a nickname adopted by Prince George – a fact he revealed earlier this year, prior to the birth of his youngest cousin.
Prince George, the son of Carole’s daughter Kate and Prince William, turned six at the end of last month
One of the cakes advertised on the Party Pieces website reads: ‘Happy Birthday George is 6!’
The prince was walking with his grandmother Carole near her home in Berkshire when he struck up a conversation with a dog walker, telling her: ‘I’m called Archie.’
There are also cakes addressed to James – the name of Carole and Michael’s son – however none of the cakes feature the name Charlotte, Louis or Arthur – Pippa’s son with husband James Matthews.
The girls’ cakes have names like Rosie, Amy, Grace and Jennifer – with no mention of Kate or Pippa either.
Last year Carole gave a rare interview to Good Housekeeping magazine, in which she revealed she still turns to Kate, 37, Pippa, 35, and James, 32, for business advice.
One of the cakes that reads ‘Happy Birthday George’ is jungle-themed with pictures of lions – a coincidence given the Duke of Cambridge recently revealed his eldest son’s favourite film is Disney’s The Lion King.
There are also a number of special occasion cakes emblazoned with the name Archie (pictured)
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s three-month-old son (pictured) was christened Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor
She said: ‘My children have all worked for the business. Catherine started the First Birthday brand – she chose the products and looked after all the imagery and the catalogue production.
‘Pippa set up the blog, as we didn’t have one. James came up with the idea of personalised cakes and got them off the ground for us.
‘Because they all grew up with me working, Party Pieces has been very much part of our lives and what we talked about. I still ask their advice and say “What do you think of this?”‘
Carole, who celebrated 30 years of success with Party Pieces last year, told how she started the company after she and husband Michael, 70, returned to the UK after living abroad.
Prince George (pictured with Princess Charlotte) revealed he has the nickname Archie, which features on many of the cakes on the website, however none of them feature his sister’s moniker
The girls’ cakes advertised on Party Pieces have names like Rosie, Amy, Grace and Jennifer – with no Charlotte, Kate or Pippa
‘In 1987, I had two young children and was pregnant with my son, James,’ she recalled. ‘We had come back to the UK from living abroad and I was a full-time mum.
‘I didn’t want to miss out on my children growing up, so I considered starting my own business.’
The idea for Party Pieces came from her own personal need for supplies for her own children’s parties. After putting a notice in her daughters’ playgroup, she quickly found there was a demand for a dedicated business.
Last year Carole gave a rare interview to Good Housekeeping magazine, in which she revealed she still turns to Kate, 37, Pippa, 35, and James, 32, for business advice. James, right, came up with the idea of personalised cakes and got them off the ground
She continued: ‘For the first year, business came through advertising in playgroups. Our big break came when I used a company called Red House Books to send out flyers about Party Pieces.
‘We put out 10,000 leaflets, which gave a huge boost to our orders. I thought if we could do that on 10,000, why not send out 100,000? We could scale up.
‘We realised we needed a warehouse, so we moved to a small start-up unit in Hungerford. In 1995, we moved to Child’s Court Farm, where we’ve been ever since.’