Party business run by Duchess of Cambridge’s mother celebrates her 67th

Royal fans have been given a glimpse of a young Duchess of Cambridge as she partied with her younger siblings James Middleton and Pippa Middleton.

To celebrate Kate mother’s 67th birthday, the party paraphernalia business founded and run by Carole Middleton shared a throwback snap of the ‘party planner extraordinaire’ today.  

In the black-and-white photograph – posted on Party Pieces’ Instagram account – seven-year-old Kate, now 40, dons a stripey hat at a jaunty angle while her party horn is fully stretched. 

The image – which sees a beaming Carole standing front and centre – was shared alongside the caption: ‘Happiest of Birthdays to the party planner extraordinaire! We hope you have the most magical day.’

Taken in 1989, two years after Party Pieces was started, the picture – which has been shared by the company before – shows Kate was a natural in front of the camera even then.

To celebrate Kate mother’s 67th birthday, the party paraphernalia business founded and run by Carole Middleton shared a throwback snap (pictured) of the ‘party planner extraordinaire’ today

The image – which sees a beaming Carole standing front and centre – was shared alongside the caption: ‘Happiest of Birthdays to the party planner extraordinaire! We hope you have the most magical day.’

Kate cheekily aims her party horn at Mrs Middleton, then 34, along with her siblings Pippa and James, then five and two.

Wearing a belted dress, Mrs Middleton looks remarkably glamorous for an entrepreneurial mother of three young – and clearly lively – children.

Mrs Middleton started the firm in 1987, the year James was born, after she and husband Michael returned to Britain from Jordan, where they had worked for British Airways.  

It grew quickly and in 1989 she began trading from a warehouse in Hungerford, Berkshire. 

Within three years, it was so successful she took over dilapidated barns and sheds at Child’s Court Farm in Yattendon, Berkshire, where the firm remains, employing 40 people and sending out 4,000 orders a week.

Earlier this week, it was reported that Mrs Middleton risks raising Royal eyebrows by using Marie Antoinette’s ‘Let them eat cake!’ cry to cash in on the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee.

Kate, 40, left, and her family, right, at the Together at Christmas community carol service on December 8, 2021 in London

Party Pieces is selling £4.99 ‘Best of British Cupcake Sets’ to celebrate the Monarch’s 70-year reign, featuring the phrase on cake-toppers.

The party paraphernalia firm’s website does not mention the Queen directly, but does boast that each set would make ‘a perfect addition for the Platinum Jubilee’. 

Its website says: ‘Get ready for the Platinum Jubilee and celebrate all things British with our range of red, blue and white party supplies!

‘Our Great Britain party supplies are ideal for any patriotic occasion. From Union Jack bunting to balloons and tableware, our Great Britain party decorations will add the perfect touch.’

But the firm’s inspiration for its decorations may ruffle Royal feathers, given the historical significance of the saying.

Earlier this week, it was reported that Mrs Middleton (pictured with her husband in 2019) risks raising Royal eyebrows by using Marie Antoinette’s ‘Let them eat cake!’ cry to cash in on the Queen ’s Platinum Jubilee

 Party Pieces is selling £4.99 ‘Best of British Cupcake Sets’ to celebrate the Monarch’s 70-year reign, featuring the phrase on cake-toppers (pictured)

The luxury-loving French queen, who was executed by guillotine in 1793, is claimed to have had such little regard for her country’s starving masses that she said ‘Let them eat cake!’ when told they had no bread.

The phrase has become shorthand for the attitudes of an out-of-touch elite, although historians say there is no evidence Marie Antoinette uttered the words.

While the current Party Pieces range may attract comment, the items on sale are unlikely to prompt the ‘tacky’ jibes drawn by the trinkets sold for the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee ten years ago.

Then the firm offered state-carriage-shaped vases made out of cardboard, coat-of-arms cups with the words ‘Long Live G & T’ and canape flags featuring crown-wearing corgis.

Royal biographer Margaret Holder told the Daily Mail: ‘I don’t think that the Queen will be annoyed about it. She has a sense of humour and the Queen is very fond of Kate.’

Party Pieces, which celebrates its own jubilee – coral or jade – this year, marking 35 years in business, was approached for comment.