Michael Middleton

Michael Francis Middleton was born on June 23, 1949, in Leeds, England. He was raised in Moortown, Leeds, and comes from a family with historical connections to the British landed gentry and aristocracy. His grandmother, Olive Christiana Middleton, was closely related to members of the British royal family, including a second cousin of Baroness Airedale. Members of the Middleton family had historically hosted members of the royal family in Leeds from the 1920s.

Middleton's mother was Valerie Middleton (née Glassborow), who served as a volunteer aid detachment (VAD) nurse and a code-breaker during the Second World War. His father was Captain Peter Middleton, an RAF fighter pilot during the war, who later joined British European Airways in 1952. When Middleton was around 13 years old, the family relocated to Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire. In 1962, Middleton, then approximately 13 years old, flew with Prince Philip as a co-pilot during a two-month tour of South America, a flight documented in British Pathé newsreels.

He has three brothers: Richard, born in 1947; Simon, born in 1952; and Nicholas, born in 1956. His nephew, Adam Middleton, is the godfather to Middleton's daughter Princess Charlotte, and his niece Lucy Middleton is a lawyer and serves as the godmother to Prince Louis, Middleton's youngest son.

Middleton was educated at Clifton College, a public school in Bristol, where he was a praepostor, a rugby player in the first XV, and awarded tennis colors. He continued his education at the University of Surrey, earning a Bachelor of Science degree in 1973.

Following university, Middleton attended British European Airways’ flight school for six months, initially training to become a pilot, before shifting to ground operations and graduating from their internal training courses. Subsequently, he worked as a flight dispatcher for British Airways.

In 1980, Middleton married Carole Goldsmith. The couple met while working at British Airways. Carole Middleton later founded Party Pieces, a mail-order company specializing in party supplies, in 1987. Middleton joined the company in 1989. The family resided in a Victorian house in Bradfield Southend near Reading, Berkshire, before purchasing Oak Acre, a Tudor-style manor house in Bucklebury, Berkshire, in 1995. They also bought a flat in Chelsea in 2002 and owned a racehorse.

Middleton’s career included managing the family business Party Pieces, which expanded into party supplies and decorations. The firm moved to farm buildings at Ashampstead Common and was operational until its sale in May 2023 when it entered administration owing significant debts. The company's liabilities included over £2.6 million to creditors, including HM Revenue and Customs, a bank loan, and a debt owed to a small business supplier.

Throughout his life, Middleton inherited wealth from his grandmother’s trust funds, which, along with family assets, facilitated their attendance at private schools for his children. The Middleton family has been described as being part of the affluent “Upper Middleton Class,” with significant inherited and accumulated wealth.

In 2002, the Middletons purchased Bucklebury Manor, a Georgian mansion on an 18-acre estate. The family also owned a flat in Chelsea, which they sold in 2019, and a racehorse. Their son, Prince William, is married to Catherine, Princess of Wales, and their grandchildren, Prince George, Princess Charlotte, and Prince Louis, are second, third, and fourth in line to the British throne, respectively.

Michael Middleton’s ancestry includes connections to various notable families in the UK, including the Lupton family and descendants of King Edward III. His paternal lineage traces back to a Church of England hymn-writer, Rev. Thomas Davis.