This is very, very interesting. A woman named Joanne Callen has given a lengthy and fascinating interview to The Daily Mail, all about her godmother Carole Middleton. Callen and Middleton are related – Joanne’s mother and Carole are first cousins, which makes Joanne and Duchess Kate second cousins. Apparently, the families grew up together and were very, very close but that all changed when Kate married William. Joanne says Carole phased out her peasant relations, even going so far as to cut out shady Uncle Gary Goldsmith. You can read the full piece here and here are the most interesting parts:
Few will have heard of the Callens, but they and the Middletons are close family. Or, rather, they were. Because now it seems that some in Joanne’s family are deeply disappointed with their more illustrious cousins – and not only because the wedding was the last they ever saw of Kate. In the eyes of Joanne, at least, Carole has become too grand to care about Joanne’s family.
Invitations to family occasions have gone unanswered, elderly relatives remain unvisited. Carole no longer bothers with her godchild. The Callens have never even met Prince George.
Joanne’s mother, Alison, is Carole Middleton’s first cousin. So close were the pair that they grew up almost as sisters. And later their families shared Christmases and holidays. Yet in the three years since the wedding, Joanne says, the Middletons have steadily cut her side of the family adrift. Carole’s colourful brother Gary, her only sibling, might well sympathise. Because, according to Joanne, he too has now been so comprehensively ‘dropped’, that his sister refuses to be seen in his company.
‘When I was a child Carole was really good to me,’ she explains. ‘She was a very good mother, a lovely godmother, and I liked her. But she has always been a social climber and now I feel she is snobbish. She behaves as if we are not good enough for her now – so she does not need to respond to us or have any care. At the end of the day, I’m not sure what the word goddaughter means any more. Carole doesn’t reply to invitations and doesn’t turn up at any family events. She claims that she won’t go anywhere where Gary is but I think she is just making excuses. The real reason is that she is above us now. We’re not in her social circle. It’s as if we are not good enough now and she’s embarrassed by us. She is now even grander than the Queen.’
Joanne continues: ‘I was so excited when George was born. I watched Kate leaving the hospital looking lovely and have read about him in lots of newspapers and magazines. But none of the family has met him and we have barely seen Carole since the wedding.’
But it is the way Carole has behaved towards Joanne’s grandparents, Ruth 81 and Ivor, 86, who live barely 30 miles away from her in the suburban town of Ruislip, Middlesex, that she seems to find particularly upsetting. Joanne says Carole has twice promised to introduce the grandparents – Carole’s aunt and uncle – to George but they still have not seen him. In the run-up to last Christmas, Carole rang Ruth and offered to send a car to pick them up. Ruth promptly went out to buy a present for George, but the car never came.
‘Carole said a car would pick them up in the next couple of weeks to meet Prince George,’ says Joanne. ‘She said that she would call later and organise a time and a date. So my grandmother went out and bought George an outfit. When I asked her later if she had met George, she made an excuse for them saying, “They must be very busy.” But I felt terrible for her because she had gone out and bought a gift for him and was so excited about meeting him – not because he was Prince George but because he was family. I still feel sad thinking of them sitting there waiting for the call with the present all wrapped up waiting for them. Then Christmas came and it obviously wasn’t going to happen. Our family is deeply saddened. There is no need to upset anybody. She should certainly have a good deal more respect for Ruth and Ivor.’
‘I suppose Carole may feel that the Palace doesn’t want her to see her wider family regularly now she is grandmother to the future King. Perhaps she is complying with what she thinks is their wish but it doesn’t make it easier.’
It is not just Carole’s behaviour towards her aunt and uncle, Ruth and Ivor, that has caused offence. When Joanne’s sister Catherine celebrated her wedding at the 18th Century Hampton Court House in Surrey last month, none of the Middletons attended or sent presents.
Joanna also tells a long story about how Carole didn’t want her brother, Gary Goldsmith (who financed most of the Middleton adventures before the royal wedding), to sit with the family during the wedding. In case you think that Joanne is just a grumpy relative cashing in on some tenuous royal connection, she details how close she was to the Middleton family and it really does sound like they were a very intertwined and close-knit group. But no more.
Does Carole think she’s “grander than the Queen”? Eh. I think Carole is a massive social climber who sunk lots of money, time and effort into the massive gamble of getting her daughter to land Prince William. And the gamble paid off after nine years and all of the Middletons are reveling in their rewards. And yes, I believe that Carole totally cut out her peasant relations. But what stuns me is that Dodgy Uncle Gary is no longer welcome around the Middletons. None of this would have been possible without Gary – I’ve long believed he financed a major part of the Middletons’ lifestyle and Kate’s pursuit of William.
Photos courtesy of WENN, Fame/Flynet.
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