Royals
Carole Middleton Is One Proud Grandma
Kate Middleton’s mom is an involved grandmother to all five of her grandkids.
The Cambridge kids are pretty lucky when it comes to grandparents. They have their great-grandmother “Gan-Gan,” who the rest of us should probably call Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth. Then there’s Prince Charles and his wife Camilla Parker-Bowles. And finally, the grandmother extraordinaire. Their non-royal grandmother Carole Middleton, who appears to be a rock-steady presence in their young lives. Whether she’s hanging out with them in the garden, decorating for the holidays with them via Zoom, or just putting them to work as little royal shopkeepers, she keeps life fun and interesting for 7-year-old Prince George, 6-year-old Princess Charlotte, and 3-year-old Prince Louis.
Carole and her husband Michael Middleton stay largely out of the spotlight as parents to the future Queen Consort, Kate Middleton. But that doesn’t mean the Party Pieces entrepreneur is exactly a shy, retiring flower. She has a business to run, after all, and a social media presence through that business to maintain. While she sometimes steers clear of sharing too much about her life as grandmother to the young royals, every once in a while she gives us a rare glimpse behind the curtain.
Getting “Muddy”
The proud grandma told Saga magazine in May 2021, “It’s important for children to grow up appreciating nature and part of that is allowing them to get a bit muddy,” and is even willing to get muddy with her grandkids herself.
“Run Down The Hills”
Carole Middleton isn’t one of those grandmothers to sit and watch her grandkids, including Pippa Middleton’s 2-year-old son Arthur and baby girl Grace, have all the fun. “I want to run down the hills, climb the trees and go through the tunnel at the playground,” she told Good Housekeeping in 2021. “As long as I am able to, that’s what I’ll be doing. I cook with them, I muck around dancing, we go on bike rides.”
Her Royal Normal
After the birth of Prince Louis in 2018, Middleton opened up to The Telegraph about finding normalcy when dealing with being a grandmother to little royals. “I have two other children and grandchildren and my job, and I lead a lot of my life round here, where I’ve lived for years and people knew me before Catherine’s… impact,” she told the publication. “It isn’t normal maybe to go to Louis’ christening or Catherine’s wedding, but, in the end, they’re all family events.”
Gardening Granny
In keeping with her outdoorsy nature, Middleton had an exciting hack to share about keeping her grandkids interested when she tries to teach them about gardening. “If I’m doing planting with my grandchildren, I like to have it all laid out at ‘activity stations’ with their own little trowel and pot so they can get started immediately,” Middleton told Saga. “It’s no good calling children over to an activity, only for you then to have to fuss about looking for the right equipment and clearing a space. They’ll soon lose interest and slope off.”
Decorating The Tree
During the lockdown Christmas of 2020, Carole Middleton wasn’t able to spend the holidays with her grandkids. But she explained in a post on her Party Pieces Instagram that she found a way to make do. “For me, what really matters is that my family feels connected. I normally let my grandchildren help me decorate the tree,” she wrote. “This year, I’ll ask them by video call to decide which decoration should go where. It may need to be tastefully rearranged later…!”
Passing On Tradition
Carole Middleton gave a little insight into her favorite toys to give her grandkids in December 2020 on her Party Pieces Instagram. “I find that the smallest present can be the one that gives the most enjoyment and entertainment to children,” she wrote. “I remember that when they were young, my children found flexi-figures like these totally absorbing.”
The “Gorgeous” Future King
In 2015, Carole Middleton spent her 60th birthday on the island of Mustique with her husband, three children, and her new grandson Prince George. When she visited the local market she was heard saying repeatedly, “He’s gorgeous, isn’t he?” to anyone who would listen, according to The Daily Mail. Typical proud grandmother.
Ready To See Her “New Grandchild”
The Cambridge children are not Carole Middleton’s only grandchildren. Her daughter Pippa and son-in-law James Matthews are parents to 2-year-old Arthur, and welcomed daughter Grace during the pandemic. In fact, seeing little Grace was one of the reasons Carole Middleton was so anxious for the pandemic to be over, per The Daily Mail, “I hope to see more of my family than I could last year, including, of course, my new grandchild."
This article was originally published on
