Inside the Life of Carole Middleton: The Woman Behind the Royal Family

By Bruce Wayne - Oct 27, 2024

Royal houses have always plotted to marry their daughters off to princes, but Carole Middleton's plan to marry her daughter Kate off to Prince William was different. Instead of growing up in a grand palace, Carole grew up in a modest council house in Southall, London. Netflix's The Crown portrayed her negatively, but is Carole a manipulative social climber or a Mary Poppins-like grandmother? Join us as we find out…

Carole Is Born

The date is December 31st, 1955. In London's Buckingham Palace, a young Queen Elizabeth II settles into her new role as monarch. 10 miles west, on New Year's Eve, Carole Elizabeth Goldsmith was born in Perivale, within the sprawling working-class suburb of Ealing.

Carole's mother, Dorothy 'Dot' Goldsmith (née Harrison), worked part-time in a local jewelry store. Her father, Ronald Goldsmith, was a painter and decorator. Ronald and Dot had another child, Gary, who became a multi-millionaire through IT recruitment.

The Duchess

Carole claims the Queen Mother was a distant relation but Dot was the great-granddaughter of coal miner's wife, Jane Harrison, from the industrial north of England. Author and former Vanity Fair editor Tina Brown wrote in her 2022 book The Palace Papers: "Carole inherited her drive from her socially ambitious mother, Dorothy 'Dot' Goldsmith, aka The Duchess, who, according to a snarky relative, wanted to be the top brick in the chimney."

Later, those same people described Carole Middleton as "a working-class girl who married up."

Small Council Flat

Dot and Ronald lived with their two children in a small, low-rent government council flat in Southall. The borough is sometimes called Little India because of the many immigrants who have kept nearby Heathrow Airport ticking since the 1960s. Carole told Good Housekeeping, "I grew up watching my parents, who both worked extremely hard. I remember them working hard to make ends meet and give us a lifestyle."

Gary and Carole attended local state schools, and to say their lives were nondescript is an understatement.

Carole's Early Career

Carole wanted to be a teacher, but her parents couldn't afford to put her through university. So, at 16, she left school but soon returned to gain four A-Levels. Carole worked as a shop assistant at Britain's best-known luxury department store, John Lewis. Next, she became a secretary at Prudential Insurance.

Then, she became a secretary for the state-owned British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC), which became British Airways. By 1976, the pretty 21-year-old was working as a British Airways cabin crew member.