bitchy | The Times: Carole Middleton left a trail of financial destruction in her wake

While Carole Middleton likes to portray herself as a matriarch out of a Jane Austen novel, she more closely resembles a trashy, debt-ridden Real Housewife on the verge of bankruptcy. The Teresa Giudice of Bucklebury. Since Carole’s business, Party Pieces, accumulated £2.6 million worth of debt and had to be sold off by the bankruptcy court, suddenly people have a lot of say about the mother of the future queen consort. While Carole always managed her press in a very obvious and unhinged way, suddenly Carole is not the one in control. The sharks smell blood in the water. Carole has just left too much damage in her wake. The Times of London did a lengthy piece where they interviewed some of the business-owners who are owed thousands by Carole. Some highlights:

Sell Middleton Manor & pay your debts: Their suppliers said it was “galling” that the Middletons left invoices unpaid before the firm went bust, and called on the couple, who bought a £5 million manor in Berkshire on the back of Party Pieces’ success, to pay from their own pockets.

Sultani Gas is a small business owned by an Afghan refugee: An Afghan refugee and small business owner has accused the Princess of Wales’s parents of “betrayal” for failing to pay thousands of pounds of debt before their business went bust. Mohamad Pardis, owner of the helium supplier Sultani Gas, said the £20,430 he is owed, which he is “unlikely” to receive, was equivalent to a year’s profits. The father of four, 38, started his business after arriving in the UK as a refugee from Afghanistan. “I thought I was in safe hands and that I could trust the royal family. I’m completely shocked,” he said. “She should pay us out of her own pocket. She’s living in a £5 million house, so it’s next to nothing for them, but for me it’s my profit for a year.”

Carole’s mismanagement has led to a trail of destruction: The report by administrators, Interpath Advisory, said it was “unlikely” that trade creditors, including small companies supplying balloons, toys and party bags, would be paid the £456,000 they are owed. One of those companies is Playwrite Group, a toy importer founded in 1911, which was owed £2,375. James Cornelius, 44, the fourth generation of his family to run the firm, said: “It’s galling when they’re so wealthy. I’m sure they could have made some effort to pay off their creditors, but we haven’t heard anything from them at all. They owed an awful lot of money, luckily not a huge amount to us, but enough that it still hurts. We have supported Party Pieces for many years. It was a bit of a shock that they’ve gone, but now we have to bear the brunt and carry the can.”

They swindled a small toy-making business too: Another firm that supplied goods that were never paid for was Dr Zigs, a toy-making firm, that Paola Dyboski-Bryant started from her kitchen table in north Wales 12 years ago. The mother of three, 53, who employs five staff, said: “It’s completely unfair — obviously there’s money there to pay suppliers. We’re small. We’re dependent. If Party Pieces had chosen they could have helped a small brand like mine. Unpaid invoices make a huge difference to our cash flow, and what we can do. Maybe it’s a small invoice for them, but for us it matters.”

The bank loans: Party Pieces was sold using an insolvency process that allows firms to be sold without its debts, called a pre-pack administration. The documents filed with Companies House show it owed more than £612,000 to HM Revenue & Customs, which will be partially repaid by the firm’s assets, which totalled £196,939. It had £2.1 million of loans, on top of a £218,749 Covid loan with the Royal Bank of Scotland, four fifths of which will be covered by the taxpayer.

[From The Times]

The trail of destruction, my God. So many businesses were providing services or supplies on credit too – Party Pieces was months in arrears in many of these situations. That’s not all – the Mail had a story about how Party Pieces didn’t pay high-end baker Fiona Cairns and “sources” told the Mail that the outstanding £3,880 debt will be “extremely awkward and embarrassing” for the family, especially given that Cairns baked William and Kate’s wedding cake. Bitch, are you not embarrassed by the entire f–king scandal of it all? You mismanaged your company into the ground. You’ve hurt dozens of businesses and left the British taxpayer on the hook for hundreds of thousands of dollars. Are you not ashamed? Jesus.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.