Creditors left 'betrayed' as business run by Kate's parents goes runs up almost ... trends now
Creditors have been left furious as a party paraphernalia business started by the parents of the Princess of Wales has run into £2.6million of debt.
Party Pieces Holdings, run by Michael and Carole Middleton helped send their three children to £42,930-a-year Marlborough College and enabled them to snap up a manor house for £4.7m.
But at least one businessman is now accusing the Princess of Wales’s mother of 'betrayal', amid cries of disbelief about the amount of debt the company has racked up.
The debts are now estimated at £2.6 million, according to details in a report from administrators trying to recover money for the firm’s creditors. This includes £218,749 to RBS bank for a Coronavirus Business Interruption loan, £456,008 to other creditors and £1.4 million in unsecured loans.
It comes as the report makes it brutally clear that it’s ‘highly unlikely’ that any creditors will get anything.
Party Pieces Holdings, run by Michael and Carole Middleton helped send their three children to £42,930-a-year Marlborough College and enabled them to snap up a manor house for £4.7m
Party Pieces Holdings run by Michael and Carole Middleton owes the taxman £612,685
Among those hit is Party Pieces landlord, Lord Iliffe, on whose Berkshire estate the company has been based for many years.
Owed £57,480, the estate now faces what its agent, James Hole, describes as 'severe financial consequences'.
'They have been long-term tenants,' he says. 'We were astonished about the amount of money owed to others.'
Another creditor, speaking anonymously, said his company engaged in protracted discussions with Party Pieces, but realised it was hopeless.
He added: 'The amount they owe HMRC dwarfs anything else they owe. That’s why we walked away — [because] of what’s owed to the public purse.'
This, he adds, is not just the £219,000 coronavirus business interruption loan which Party Pieces took out as it was hammered by lockdowns.
'There is VAT and other things as well,' alleges the firm’s former trading partner.
The administrators’ report points out that HMRC is owed a total of £613,000 - a claim which must be settled before any of the firm’s small creditors are paid.
Sultani Gas, a company based outside Tonbridge, Kent, which supplied Party Pieces with helium for balloons, is understood to be appalled.
A spokesman said: 'What hurt me the most was that I trusted her as the mother-in-law of the future king — and she just betrayed me. It is absolutely unacceptable.’
The couple blamed lockdown and the cost of living crisis which caused a sharp downturn in sales and cash flow problems.
The couple blamed lockdown and the cost of living crisis which caused a sharp downturn in sales
The administrators' report says: 'Based on current estimates, it is uncertain whether there will be funds available to enable a distribution to preferential creditors. It is unlikely there will be funds available to enable a distribution to unsecured creditors.'
The report details how the pandemic began to cause the company problems saying that revenue contracted from £4.5 million to £3.2 million between 2021 and 2022, with the company making a loss of £900,000.
It said: 'Management attributed this to the Covid 19 pandemic resulting in reduced social gatherings and a reduction in discretionary spend due to the cost of living crisis. This caused constraints on the company's cash flows.'
In early 2023 the CEO resigned and the Middletons and other members of the board tried to shore up the company and find a buyer.
But the report said: 'The company experienced increasing creditor pressure, including threats to present winding up petitions and other legal proceedings.'
In the face of the financial challenges the company approached 175 potential buyers and eventually settled on a deal for £180,000 which was for stock worth £120,000 and £60,000 for intellectual property, computers, contracts and other equipment.
All 12 employees will transfer to the new company, the administrator report said.
The report states that the business began in 1987 when 'Carole Middleton started to help parents create imaginative parties'
The current company was established in 2019, with Carole as a brand ambassador and she and husband Michael the majority shareholders.
Children's entertainer turned ice cream entrepreneur James Sinclair runs £30m 'Partyman' empire operating soft plays and firm behind teddy-bear making kits
The saviour of the Middleton's family business is a children's party entrepreneur from Essex who calls himself the 'Millionaire Clown' and says he bases his 'outrageous' marketing style on Sir Richard Branson.
James Sinclair started up as a party entertainer aged 15 and now operates a £30million
