Carole Middleton and son James arrive at Will and Kate’s wedding

Tomorrow night on Channel 5 is the documentary ‘When the Middletons Met the Monarchy’ which will delve into the relationship between Kate’s family and the royals. While her parents Carole and Michael and her siblings Pippa and James were welcomed into the fold by the Royal Family, some of William’s friends and courtiers were not so open to them. In fact, some of William’s friends even used to make cruel jokes about Carole’s former job as an air stewardess.

Carole met her husband Michael when they were both working for British Airways and the couple later founded their own business making party supplies called Party Pieces.

The business was a huge success and the family did very well for themselves financially, but it was still unusual for a prince to be dating a so-called ‘commoner’.

Some people in William’s circle still made nasty jokes about Kate’s family that even contributed to William and Kate’s temporary break-up.

The pair split for several months in 2007 but quickly rekindled their romance after seeing each other at the Concert for Diana.

A report at the time read: “Snobby jibes by Palace officials and William’s snooty pals about Kate Middleton’s mum helped sink her relationship with him.”

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It added: “William’s upper-crust friends would ridicule Carole’s former career by sneeringly whispering ‘doors to manual’ when Kate was out of earshot.”

The way Kate spoke was also reportedly a source of contention for courtiers.

One royal insider allegedly said: “She is pushy, rather twee and incredibly middle-class.

“She uses words such as, ‘pleased to meet you’, ‘toilet’ and ‘pardon’.”

These quotes, which were in the Daily Mirror, were accompanied by claims Kate tried to “laugh off the jibes” but that they “eventually drove a wedge between the couple”.

Kate’s close friends said she started to feel isolated due to William’s aristocratic friends and their attitude.

A different Palace source said: “William got on well with Carole.

“He liked flopping down on the sofas of their Berkshire home, enjoying the normality of that.

“The Queen was fond of Kate and liked her father.

“But let’s just say there was a feeling that Mrs Middleton was not right or acceptable.”

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Carole apparently ruffled feathers when she greeted the Queen with, “Pleased to meet you” rather than the traditional, “Hello Ma’am”.

Carole was also criticised for chewing gum during William’s passing-out parade at Sandhurst in December 2006.

What’s more, she was branded “Meddling Middleton” and a social climber, as critics speculated she had pushed her daughter to pursue William.

The Daily Mirror claimed: “She encouraged her daughter to take riding lessons and enroll at Prince William’s St Andrews University in Fife.”

One of the family’s neighbours said: “Kate’s a lovely girl but her parents are social climbers, ghastly people.

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“They’ve only mixed with people who can help them climb the social ladder and were determined Kate would do the same.

“That’s why they were thrilled when Kate started seeing William.

“We had them for dinner three times and they never reciprocated as we’re not useful to them socially.”

Royal expert James Whitaker told the outlet Kate was “not from suitable stock to be a future Queen”.

He added: “I just believe that evolving from a middle class background is hardly the best training to becoming Her Majesty.”

Despite William’s experience dealing with snobby friends and courtiers, he was accused of being snobby himself towards Prince Harry’s now-wife Meghan Markle.

In the book ‘Finding Freedom’, authors Omid Scobie and Carolyn Durand claimed Harry was “p***ed off” when William advised him to take his time with Meghan.

The Duke of Cambridge reportedly said: “Take as much time as you need to get to know this girl.”

The authors wrote: “In those last two words, ‘this girl’, Harry heard the tone of snobbishness that was anathema to his approach to the world.

“During his ten-year career in the military, outside the royal bubble, he had learnt not to make snap judgements about people based on their accent, education, ethnicity, class or profession.”

‘When the Middletons Met the Monarchy’ is airing on Channel 5 on Saturday at 9:30pm.

Finding Freedom was written by Omid Scobie and Carolyn Durand and was published by Dey Street Books in 2020. It is available here.

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