Carole Middleton’s business, Party Pieces, has gone into administration. The party supplies business, which was launched in 1987, has over £2.5 million pounds worth of debt.
‘Due to the company’s cash flow challenges and inability to secure additional funding, rescuing the company… is not achievable,’ a report filed to Companies House earlier this week detailed.
Party Pieces owes £612,685 to HMRC, along with £218,749 to RBS for a Coronavirus Business Interruption loan, £456,008 to other creditors and £1.4 million in unsecured loans.
Carole Middleton signed the document reporting the debts on 30 May 2023. The company has now been sold in part to Teddy Tastic Bear Company Limited for £180,000, which has chosen to keep on 12 employees and for it to remain at its current base in Ashampstead, Berkshire.
A close friend of Carol 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.’
It marks the end of a major chapter for the Middletons. Carole Middleton founded the company while looking for inspiration for one of her daughter’s birthday parties. Children Kate, Pippa and James Middleton helped out at the company’s Berkshire headquarters and also featured in advertising campaigns.
Before marrying into the Royal Family, the now Princess of Wales spent time working as a project manager for Party Pieces. She stopped the job ahead of her 2011 royal wedding to Prince William. At the time, a royal aide told People magazine, ‘She has handed over her work to colleagues and is now preparing for her future life.’
In 2021, reports emerged that Party Pieces had experienced a significant financial loss of over £250,000 following the effects of the pandemic and Brexit. Despite this, the business insisted that the losses had been anticipated, and they launched a retail partnership in the US.
‘It’s very exciting to see our Party Pieces Collection expanding into the US starting with Saker ShopRites, a leading retailer in New Jersey and family-owned business with a long history of commitment to the customers and communities its stores serve,’ Carole said at the time.
However, the future of the business was recently thrown into doubt. First, two of their three financial backers stepped down as directors: lingerie tycoon Steven Bentwood and former chairman of Oxford United Football Club, Darryl Eales.
Then, Party Pieces appointed consultancy Interpath to advise on strategic ‘options’, which included ‘a sale or finding new investors,’ according to The Daily Telegraph.
Will Wright, head of restructuring at Interpath and joint administrator, told the Daily Mail: ‘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.’
