Michael Middleton

Last updated

Michael Middleton
Born
Michael Francis Middleton

(1949-06-23) 23 June 1949 (age 74)
CitizenshipUnited Kingdom
Education Clifton College
Alma mater University of Surrey (BSc)
OccupationBusinessman
Spouse
(m. 1980)
Children
Family Middleton

Michael Francis Middleton (born 23 June 1949) is a British businessman. He is the father of Catherine, Princess of Wales, Philippa Matthews and James Middleton.

Contents

Born in Leeds, Middleton was educated at the University of Surrey. He joined British Airways and worked as a flight dispatcher. In 1980, he married Carole Goldsmith, who founded Party Pieces, a mail-order party supply company. Middleton joined his wife at the company in 1989. Their eldest three grandchildren, Prince George, Princess Charlotte, and Prince Louis, are second, third and fourth in line to the British throne respectively. The Middleton family resides at Bucklebury Manor, in Berkshire.

Early life, education, and early career

Michael Francis Middleton was born in Leeds on 23 June 1949 into a wealthy family with connections to the landed gentry. He spent his early years in Moortown, Leeds. [1] [2] [3] [4] Royal historian Robert Lacey describes the Middleton family as having aristocratic kinship, with Florence Kitson, Baroness Airedale (1868–1942) being Middleton's distant relative. [5] The Middleton family, including Michael's grandfather Richard Noël Middleton and his wife Olive, had played host to members of the British royal family in Leeds from the 1920s. [6] [7] [8] [9]

Middleton's mother was Valerie Middleton (née Glassborow, 1924–2006), who served as a VAD nurse and code-breaker during the Second World War. His father, Captain Peter Middleton (1920–2010), [10] was a pilot who served as an RAF fighter pilot during the Second World War. He flew alongside Prince Philip as co-pilot on a two-month flying tour of South America in 1962. British Pathé newsreel film shows Middleton alongside the prince during the tour. [11] [12] Middleton has three brothers: Richard (b. 1947), [13] Simon (b. 1952) and Nicholas (b. 1956). [14] [15] Richard's son, Adam Middleton, is godfather to Michael's granddaughter, Princess Charlotte. Adam's sister Lucy Middleton – a lawyer who, like her brother attended Bedales School – is godmother to Michael's grandson, Prince Louis. [16] [17] [18] [19]

Like his father and grandfather, Middleton was educated at Clifton College, a public school in Bristol. At Clifton, all three generations of Middleton men boarded at Brown's House. [20] [21] The archives at Clifton record that Middleton was a praepostor, the title for a college prefect. Middleton represented Clifton at rugby in the 1st XV and also gained his tennis colours. [22] [23]

Following Clifton, Middleton attended the University of Surrey where he was awarded a BSc in 1973, according to the entry in the Clifton College Register 1962–1978, published by Clifton College Council in October 1979. [24] Middleton then commenced studies for six months at British European Airways' flight school to become a pilot [25] before switching to ground crew where he graduated from the company's internal course. He then worked for British Airways as a flight dispatcher. [26] [27]

Marriage and family

Middleton met his future wife Carole while they were working for British Airways as ground crew. [28] By 1979, he was promoted to aircraft dispatcher, one of British Airways' Red Caps, [29] at London Heathrow Airport. They married on 21 June 1980 at St James's Parish Church in Dorney, Buckinghamshire, and later bought a Victorian house in Bradfield Southend near Reading, Berkshire. [30]

They have three children, two daughters and a son. Following the birth of Catherine Elizabeth (born 1982) and Philippa Charlotte (born 1983), [31] the family moved to Amman, Jordan, where Michael worked as a manager for BA from 1984 to 1986. [32] Their youngest child, James William, was born in 1987. [30]

Later career and inherited wealth

Carole Middleton established Party Pieces, a company making party bags in 1987. It branched into party supplies and decorations by mail order and by 1995 was managed by both Michael and Carole Middleton and had moved into farm buildings at Ashampstead Common. The Middletons' business was successful, at that time, though later collapsed. [33] Along with trust funds inherited by Michael from his aristocrat grandmother, Olive Christiana Middleton (née Lupton), [34] the business enabled the family to continue the Middleton family tradition of sending their children to board at independent schools. [35] [36] All three children were sent to St Andrew's School, Pangbourne and both daughters were sent to Downe House School, a girls' boarding school in Cold Ash, and Marlborough College, in Wiltshire. James also attended Marlborough. [37]

The Middletons sold Party Pieces in May 2023 after it fell into administration. [38] The company owed £2.6 million to creditors when it collapsed, including £612,685 owed to HM Revenue and Customs, £218,749 owed to Royal Bank of Scotland for a Coronavirus Business Interruption loan, and £20,430 to an Afghan refugee whose small business was a supplier of helium gas. [39] [40] [41] The company's administrator's report stated that unsecured creditors were unlikely to be paid. [42]

In 1995, the Middletons purchased Oak Acre, a Tudor-style manor house in Bucklebury, Berkshire. [43] In 2002, the Middletons bought a flat in Chelsea, in which their children lived, which they eventually sold for £1.88 million in 2019. [44] [45] Carole and Michael Middleton are also the owners of a racehorse. By 2012, the Middletons had moved to Bucklebury Manor, a Georgian mansion with an 18-acre estate where their grandson Prince George spent his first few weeks. [46] [47] [48]

The British press created the term Upper Middleton Class to describe the family's social position; [49] [50] other reports refer to the family as being "minted [...] with a smattering of blue-blooded antecedents". [51] [52] Their wealth has resulted in the Middletons being reported to be multi-millionaires. [53] [54] [55]

Ancestry

Middleton's great-great-grandfather William Middleton, Esq. owned Gledhow Grange-Hawkhills Estate which was entailed to his son Arthur Middleton. Hawkhills, Gledhow - home of William Middleton.jpg
Middleton's great-great-grandfather William Middleton, Esq. owned Gledhow Grange-Hawkhills Estate which was entailed to his son Arthur Middleton.

Michael Middleton's grandmother, Olive Middleton was photographed at Headingley, in 1927, in the procession of dignitaries following Princess Mary who was patron of the Leeds Infirmary fundraising committee of which Olive was a member. Olive's husband, Richard Noel Middleton co-founded the Yorkshire Symphony Orchestra of which the Princess and her son George were patrons. [59] [60] Richard Noel Middleton and his cousin Ralph Middleton, grandson of Sir Henry Berney, 9th Baronet, were solicitors at the Leeds law firm Messrs Middleton & Sons founded by their ancestor, William Middleton in 1834. [61] Michael Middleton's great grandfather, politician Francis Martineau Lupton, [62] was the son of Yorkshire landowner Francis W. Lupton, Esq., whose marriage to educationalist Frances Lupton (née Greenhow) on 1 July 1847, is listed in The Patrician  John Burke's supplement to Burke's Peerage . [63] Her father was surgeon Thomas Michael Greenhow whose wife, Elizabeth, was a member of the Martineau family. Many portraits of Elizabeth's siblings, sociologist Harriet Martineau and James Martineau, a friend of Queen Victoria, are held in London's National Portrait Gallery. [64] [65]

Michael Middleton's family is linked, via his Leeds-born cousin, Lady Bullock (née Barbara Lupton), [66] to William Petty-FitzMaurice,1st Marquess of Lansdowne, Prime Minister of Great Britain between 1782 and 1783. Through his direct ancestor, Dame Anne Fairfax (née Gascoigne), Michael Middleton has several descents from King Edward III. [67]

The Rev. Thomas Davis, a Church of England hymn-writer is Michael Middleton's paternal ancestor. [68] [69]

Arms

Coat of arms of Michael Middleton
Coat of arms of Michael Middleton with crest.svg
Notes
A coat of arms was granted to Michael Middleton by the College of Arms on 19 April 2011. Thomas Woodcock, Garter King of Arms, the senior officer of the College of Arms, helped the family with the design. [70]
Adopted
19 April 2011
Crest
A Rock Argent, thereon a Wolf sejant Azure, gorged with a Collar of Roses Argent, barbed and seeded Proper, supporting in the dexter Forepaw a Caduceus Or, Serpent Gules. [71] The crest's blazon is based on the arms of the Lupton family, Michael Middleton's grandmother being Olive Middleton (née Lupton). [72]
Escutcheon
Per pale Azure and Gules, a chevron Or, cotised Argent, between three acorns slipped and leaved Or. [70]
Symbolism
The dividing line down the centre is a canting of the name "Middle-ton". The acorns (from the oak tree) are a traditional symbol of England and a feature of west Berkshire, where the family have lived for over 30 years. Three acorns denote the family's three children. The gold chevron in the centre of the arms is an allusion to Carole Middleton's maiden name, Goldsmith. The two white chevronels (narrow chevrons above and below the gold chevron) symbolise the following: the peaks and mountains and the family's love of both the Lake District and skiing and also Middleton family relative, Beatrix Potter, a Lake District resident. [70] [73]

Further reading

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References

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  4. Jobson, Robert (25 June 2014). The Future Royal Family. John Blake Publishing. ISBN   9781784186760. Archived from the original on 7 November 2023. Retrieved 30 October 2016. The family home was (in) the aptly named King Lane in an affluent suburb of Leeds (Moortown).
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  54. Lewis, Jason (27 November 2010). "How a Victorian industrialist helped Kate Middleton's parents". UK Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 5 July 2015. Retrieved 12 November 2014. By 1936 there were three separate family trusts in operation controlling the bulk of her and her family's fortune
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  56. Report of the Council – Volume 72. Vol. Vol. 72. Leeds Philosophical and Literary Society. 1892. p. 25. Archived from the original on 26 April 2023. Retrieved 19 March 2023. Arthur Middleton, Hawkhills, Chapel Allerton
  57. Silson, A. (Autumn 2014). "Oak Leaves (Part Fourteen) – The Mysteries of Gledhow Grange" (PDF). Oakwood and District Historical Society: pp. 13–14. Archived (PDF) from the original on 11 November 2021. Retrieved 18 August 2021. This is indeed the case, and the older building was known as Gledhow Grange. It is this house that is the focus of this article. Confusingly, another demolished detached house had the same name and was only about 500 metres to the south on Gledhow Lane. It was this Gledhow Lane house that was occupied by William Middleton, the Duchess of Cambridge's ancestor. Shortly after 1870, Middleton changed the name of his house [Gledhow Grange] to Hawkhills.
  58. Reed, Michael (2016). "Gledhow Hall". David Poole. Archived from the original on 6 September 2016. Retrieved 15 August 2016. A gentleman farmer, William Middleton Esq. had also lived in the area at Gledhow Grange Estate.
  59. "Princess Mary, Countess of Harewood". National Portrait Gallery, London. Archived from the original on 16 May 2021. Retrieved 16 May 2021. On 27th July 1927, at the Headingley Cricket Ground, near Leeds, Princess Mary was photographed as guest of honour at a garden party...Their niece, Olive Middleton (nee Lupton) was also photographed as one of the dignitaries in the procession walking behind Princess Mary. Olive had been on the Princess's fundraising committee for the Leeds Infirmary and her husband, Noel Middleton, had co-founded the Yorkshire Symphony Orchestra with both the Princess and her son George Lascelles as patrons.
  60. "Garden Party, Headingley Cricket Ground". Leodis – Leeds City Council. Archived from the original on 16 May 2021. Retrieved 19 May 2021. The Princess carries an impressive bouquet of carnations and trailing fern and is escorted by former Leeds Lord Mayor Sir Edwin Airey, of the building company, William Airey and Son Leeds Ltd. The Lady Mayoress, Isabella Lupton escorts the Princess's husband, Viscount Lascelles, who is behind his wife. The Lord Mayor, Alderman Hugh Lupton, Lady Clarke and Mrs R.X. [N.] Middleton bring up the rear of the procession.
  61. "The Headrow, Permanent House and Headrow Buildings". Leeds City Council. 2021. Archived from the original on 24 June 2021. Retrieved 17 June 2021.
  62. Bradford, E. (May 2014). "They Lived In Leeds  Francis Martineau Lupton". The Thoresby Society, The Leeds Library, Leeds. Archived from the original on 25 August 2017. Retrieved 25 August 2017. Frank (Francis Martineau Lupton) entered local politics and was elected a Councillor and then Alderman
  63. Burke, John (1847). The Patrician. E. Churton. p.  188 . Retrieved 25 August 2017. Marriage  Francis Lupton, Esq., of Leeds to Frances Elizabeth Greenhow, only daughter of T. M. Greenhow, Esq., ...
  64. Furness, Hannah (11 February 2014). "Duchess of Cambridge visits National Portrait Gallery, home of little-known Middleton family paintings". Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 12 February 2014. Retrieved 24 October 2014.
  65. Martineau, Harriet (1 January 1983). Arbuckle, Elisabeth Sanders (ed.). Harriet Martineau's Letters to Fanny Wedgwood . Stanford University Press. p.  150. ISBN   9780804711463 . Retrieved 15 May 2015. (May 1857) My (H. Martineau) niece, Mrs (Frances) Lupton and her husband came for two days
  66. Reed, Michael (5 April 2013). "Duchess of Cambridge not posh? Her ancestor was lord mayor of Leeds". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 5 March 2016. Retrieved 16 March 2016. My research revealed that Kate's second cousin, thrice removed, is Leeds-born Lady Bullock (Barbara May Lupton), a Cambridge graduate.
  67. Multiple sources:
    • Nicholl, Katie (13 December 2013). Kate: The Future Queen. Weinstein Books. ISBN   9781602862470 . Retrieved 16 August 2015. (Michael Middleton's family were) linked to earls, countesses, a former Prime Minister  William Petty-FitzMaurice, (the first) 1st Marquess of Lansdowne, who served as Prime Minister...
    • Rayner, Gordon (13 September 2013). "'Middle-class' Duchess of Cambridge's relative wore crown and attended George V's coronation". Telegraph. UK. Archived from the original on 26 April 2016. Retrieved 14 May 2015. Her (Duchess of Cambridge's) father Michael is a descendant of Edward III
    • Reitwiesner, William Addams (April 2011). "The ancestry of Catherine, Princess of Wales". New England Historic Genealogical Society. Archived from the original on 9 May 2011. Retrieved 14 May 2015. 38561  (Michael Middleton's ancestor) Agnes Gascoigne has several descents from King Edward III
    • Roya, Nikkhah (16 December 2012). "Duchess of Cambridge discovers blue blood in her own family". Daily Telegraph. UK. Archived from the original on 29 October 2014. Retrieved 18 August 2015. Further research found that in 1917, Barbara Lupton had married Sir Christopher Bullock, a Cambridge scholar and descendant of William Petty FitzMaurice
    • Westcott, Sarah (17 December 2012). "Family tree reveals Duchess of Cambridge Kate Middleton's aristocratic roots". Daily Express. UK. Archived from the original on 14 March 2016. Retrieved 14 March 2016. He (Lord Shelburne, 1st Marquess of Lansdowne) is related to (Michael Middleton's daughter) Kate through Lady Barbara Bullock...
    • "The will of Sir Thomas Fairfax of Walton, Knight". Testamenta Eboracensia. Vol. V. Durham: Andrews & Co. 1884. pp. 121–123. "Dame Anne Fairfax, my (Sir Thomas') wif"  as executrix and she is granted administration 11 April 1521.
    • Laycock, Mike (17 March 2015). "Duchess of Cambridge's links with stately home near York revealed". The Press (York). Archived from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 18 March 2015. ... he discovered previously unpublished pictures in the depths of the Leeds archives showing the Potternewton Hall Estate where Olive ... (and) her blood cousin Baroness von Schunck ... grew up.
    • Reed, Michael (2016). Poole, David (ed.). "POTTERNEWTON HALL". House and Heritage. Archived from the original on 1 December 2018. Retrieved 20 July 2017. ... the Duchess's great-grandmother, Olive Lupton (later Middleton), was born and grew up on the Potternewton Hall Estate near Leeds ... Darnton Lupton had lived at Potternewton Hall from the 1830s and had been Mayor of Leeds in 1844 ... From 1860 the (Barker) family had split their estate and sold Potternewton Hall to Frank Lupton, a wool merchant and mill owner, and the father of politician Francis Martineau Lupton (who was Olive's father and had himself grown up at Potternewton Hall). The Lupton family had been landowners since the 18th century and Frank's brother, Arthur Lupton, a wool merchant in the family firm, owned the adjacent Newton Hall Estate. Arthur had nurtured ideas for subdivisions on his adjoining estates since the 1850s and in 1870 decided to sell Newton Hall to Frank and his other brother, Darnton Lupton.
  68. Reitwiesner, William Addams (2011). Child, Christopher Challender (ed.). The Ancestry of Catherine Middleton. Scott Campbell Steward. Boston, Massachusetts: New England Historic Genealogical Society. p. 16. ISBN   978-0-88082-252-7.
  69. Reitwiesner, William Addams (2011). Child, Christopher Challender (ed.). The Ancestry of Catherine Middleton. Scott Campbell Steward. Boston, Massachusetts: New England Historic Genealogical Society. p. 9. ISBN   978-0-88082-252-7.
  70. 1 2 3 "The arms of Miss Catherine Middleton". College of Arms. 1 May 2011. Archived from the original on 3 May 2011. Retrieved 19 May 2011.
  71. "Grant of Arms to Middleton" (PDF). Somerset Heraldry Society Journal. Summer 2011. Archived (PDF) from the original on 13 June 2021. Retrieved 13 June 2021.
  72. Murdock, J. Paul. "The Middletons, the Luptons and HRH The Duchess of Cambridge". A ROYAL HERALDRY. Weebly 2020. Archived from the original on 9 October 2017. Retrieved 29 September 2020.
  73. Walker, Tim (22 July 2014). "Duchess of Cambridge is related to Beatrix Potter". Daily Telegraph. UK. Archived from the original on 16 June 2019. Retrieved 2 November 2014. The snow-covered peaks featured on the Middleton family crest represent the Lake District and are perhaps also a reminder of one-year old Prince George's famous literary relative.