Nestled in the rolling North Wessex Downs and barely touched by centuries past, it’s hard to imagine a more peaceful or idyllic place to live than one of the timber-clad villages of rural West Berkshire.
Of course, the Princess of Wales spent her childhood in Bucklebury and her parents, Carole and Michael Middleton, still live.
Her younger sister Pippa has settled there with her hedge fund tycoon husband and three children. Last year her brother James and his French wife moved into a £1.45 million 17th-century farmhouse in neighboring Stanford Dingley, where they are expecting their first child.
But sadly, in a seemingly eerie and mysterious new chapter in the parish’s annals, these villages – along with nearby Yattendon – were recently hit by a malicious poster campaign aimed at the future king’s wealthy in-laws.
In a nod to the collapse of the Middletons’ Party Pieces business earlier this year and demanding that the couple repay remaining debts, dozens of laminated A4 posters were posted on trees, church noticeboards and more by someone skulking around in the middle of the night Lampposts stapled.
Of course, the Princess of Wales spent her childhood in Bucklebury and her parents, Carole and Michael Middleton (pictured), still live
In a seemingly eerie and mysterious new chapter in the community’s annals, these villages – along with nearby Yattendon – have recently been hit by a malicious poster campaign
Dozens of laminated A4 posters were pinned to trees, church noticeboards and lampposts by someone sneaking around in the middle of the night
The posters reference the collapse of the Middletons’ business Party Pieces earlier this year and call for the couple to repay remaining debts. Pictured: Carole Middleton with her three children promoting Party Pieces in 1989
Positioned to attract maximum attention, they appear near shops, churches, the entrance to a cricket pitch in the village and just outside Yattendon Village Hall, where locals queue for freshly made fish and chips every Wednesday evening from the Go Fish mobile van.
Outraged residents – most of whom are protective of their neighbors with royal connections – have not seen the person responsible and have certainly done their best to take down the offending posters as quickly as possible. They were joined by none other than a furious James Middleton himself, who, the Mail has learned, stormed into the Yattendon Village shops and post office earlier this month after someone was seen sticking to the sycamore tree outside.
“He wasn’t happy and wanted to know if we’d seen any more.” “He wanted them torn down,” says 57-year-old Teri Muggeridge, assistant manager of the store, six miles from Bucklebury and three miles from James ‘ House located in Stanford Dingley.
Postmaster Eugene Smit added: “There were many of these posters all over the area and I removed every single one. “I will not tolerate this in our village. The family has been here for years. They are great citizens. It just won’t wash.’
So who on earth would do something so heinous? And why are they targeting the Middletons, who are so loved in the area? This week, hot on the heels of the flying posting phantom, the Mail took a trip to this charming rural enclave and found worried and confused villagers wagging their tongues.
“I don’t know how someone could do something so cruel,” said an elderly woman who lives near the cricket ground in Yattendon, which serves as a community center for several remote villages and was apparently the focus of the poster campaign.
The angry villagers were joined by none other than a furious James Middleton himself, who, the Mail has learned, stormed into the shops and post office in Yattendon Village (pictured) earlier this month after someone got stuck on the sycamore tree outside
They’ve turned up right outside Yattendon Village Hall, where locals queue every Wednesday evening for freshly made fish and chips from the mobile Go Fish van
They are positioned to attract maximum attention and appear near shops, churches (pictured) and the entrance to a village cricket ground
The cricket ground (pictured) serves as a community center for several remote villages and appears to have been the focus of the poster campaign
Whoever is behind this, whispers another villager, must know that Yattendon is a favorite place of the Middletons. James and his parents are regular customers in the well-stocked village shop. And long before her daughter married into the royal family, Carole Middleton occasionally visited Adam and Eve Hair in the village green. The Prince and Princess of Wales were also seen frolicking around the area, where word on the street is that they occasionally fancy a delicious pub lunch at The Old Boot in Stanford Dingley.
Leanne Brown, 37, who runs the flower shop, said: “I can’t believe this was done by anyone locally. “It’s completely out of character for the village. “It’s a nice community where everyone helps each other.” In such an attractive area, is it really possible for an enemy to lurk in its midst?
The posters, one of which was seen by the Mail, certainly suggest that someone needs to deal with the Middletons.
While parts of the text cannot be repeated for legal reasons, the wording calls for “justice for creditors” and makes the claim that “Party Pieces Holdings Ltd owes £2.5 million to its creditors, including £831,435 to HMRC and a Government loan,” and adds, “Yes.” Guys, that’s tax money.
The author of the unpleasant poster is clearly referring to the shocking collapse of the Middletons’ mail-order party supplies business four months ago, and clearly believes that the couple – who bear no personal responsibility for the debt due to the structure of their business – “should” cough despite it
Victoria Fullerton, wife of former Stanford Dingley Parish Council chairman Harry, discovered one of the now infamous posters on a tree next to the 12th century St Denys Church. “My husband took it down immediately,” she says. “That’s just not what we want in the village. I can only assume whoever did it lost some money at some point and wanted revenge.”
While many residents have lived there for decades, a relative newcomer, a 46-year-old who gave his name only as David, said he saw one hanging from the lamppost next to the village hall while the fish and chip van was parked outside. “It was there for everyone to read while they waited for their food,” he said.
Perhaps most menacing was the sequence of posters that appeared on the noticeboard at the church of St Peter and St Paul, founded in the 15th century by Sir John Norreys, Henry VI’s master of the wardrobe. Sharp-eyed 74-year-old church leader Ann Wheeler quickly concluded that the perpetrator struck at night, when everyone was asleep. “Our keyholder locked up at 11 p.m. on Saturday, and when she came to open it at 8 a.m. on Sunday, there was one of those posters on the church bulletin board,” she says.
Whoever is behind this, whispers another villager, must know that Yattendon is a favorite place of the Middletons. James and his parents are regular customers in the well-stocked village shop (pictured)
Outraged residents – most of whom are protective of their neighbors with royal connections – have not seen the person responsible and have certainly done their best to take down the offending posters as quickly as possible
The Prince and Princess of Wales were also seen frolicking around the area, where word on the street is that they occasionally fancy a delicious pub lunch at The Old Boot in Stanford Dingley
“It was clearly designed to be seen by churchgoers. “She accepted it straight away, of course, but the same thing happened the next week, and the week after that.”
Ms Wheeler alerted the rector, who contacted the Oxford Diocese of the Church of England, which oversees the parish. “We didn’t want something like this to be displayed near the church,” Ms. Wheeler added. “The language was not pleasant.” It sounded like a former employee or someone owed money. Certainly someone who holds a grudge.’
The news that Party Pieces had gone into administration earlier this year with debts worth £2.6 million came as a shock to many, not least because the Middletons had for years been seen as the epitome of middle-class entrepreneurial success.
Mother of three Carole dreamed up her “party bag” catalog business at her kitchen table in the 1980s when her children were preschoolers. It quickly grew – thanks to the advent of the internet – into a multi-million pound business employing 30 people and led to a wealthy lifestyle that was a far cry from the former BA stewardess’ village hall beginnings.
Catherine, Pippa and James all attended Marlborough College, where boarding fees are now around £43,000 a year, while the Middletons now live in a £4.7 million seven-bedroom Grade II listed Georgian mansion in Bucklebury. But Party Pieces went bust just weeks after selling it for £187,000 to a Scottish businessman, James Sinclair, under a controversial process called “pre-pack”, which meant neither he nor the Middletons took responsibility for any had to take on debts. As well as £1.4m in loans, around £456,000 was owed to 35 suppliers, including party supply wholesalers, marketing and software companies and accountants.
Creditors included Royal Mail, delivery company Yodel and Trustpilot, a digital platform that allows customers to rate the companies they use. James Sinclair said Carole sold half of the company to an investment firm and in his opinion “they ruined it”.
Perhaps most menacing was the sequence of posters that appeared on the noticeboard at the church of St Peter and St Paul, founded in the 15th century by Sir John Norreys, Henry VI’s master of the wardrobe
Sharp-eyed 74-year-old church leader Ann Wheeler quickly concluded that the perpetrator struck at night, when everyone was asleep
The Middletons’ home is now a £4.7 million seven-bedroom Grade II-listed Georgian mansion in Bucklebury
Sinclair claimed earlier this week: “We tried to do a cash sale but that wasn’t possible. “We bought the company out of bankruptcy and as a result the creditors are not being paid, despite Carole’s desperate attempts to prevent that. He added that “Carole did not receive any part of the management proceeds.”
In addition, Portuguese gas canister manufacturer Amtrol-Alfa is owed almost £83,000, and Yattendon Estates, owned by Lord Iliffe, which rented premises on the edge of the village to Party Pieces, remains owed £57,480.
Speaking to the Mail in June, Lord Iliffe’s agent, James Hole, said the property was facing “serious financial consequences”, adding: “They were long-term tenants.” “We were amazed at the amount owed to others became.”
Other disgruntled creditors included Sultani Gas, a Kent-based company that supplied Party Pieces with helium for its balloons. A spokesman for the company at the time said it felt “betrayed” by Ms Middleton: “What hurt me most was that I trusted her as the mother-in-law of the future king and she simply betrayed me.” It is absolutely unacceptable. ‘
But the author of the toxic posters also appears to be upset about other unpaid debts, including a £219,000 Covid emergency loan taken out from RBS, a bank still backed by taxpayers.
Another big creditor is HMRC, which is owed more than £600,000. Basically, as the author of the posters points out with so much malice, it is the ordinary taxpayers who will ultimately foot part of the bill for the Middletons’ failed business.
It’s undoubtedly an embarrassing state of affairs for a couple whose daughter will one day be queen, and one can imagine they wouldn’t want to be reminded of it. Carole Middleton was said to be “angry and deeply disappointed” by what happened to her company. A friend told the Mail in June that she would continue to work hard to find a solution that ensures creditors are paid.
However, the saga appears to have done little to dent the couple’s reputation in the Bucklebury area. “From what I’ve heard, everyone here likes the Middletons,” adds Teri from the Yattendon Villages store. That affection has broadly extended to the couple’s younger children, Pippa and James, who, after spending most of their 20s and 30s in London, have returned to raise their own families here.
Catherine, Pippa and James all attended Marlborough College, where boarding fees are now around £43,000 a year, while the Middletons now live in a £4.7 million seven-bedroom Grade II listed Georgian mansion in Bucklebury
Party Pieces went bust just weeks after selling it for £187,000 to a Scottish businessman, James Sinclair. This was done under a controversial procedure called “pre-pack,” which meant neither he nor the Middletons had to take responsibility for any debts. Pictured: Michael and Carole Middleton after their daughter’s wedding to Prince William
Pippa and her husband James Matthews moved into a 32-bedroom Georgian mansion on 150 acres, just a short drive from her parents, last year. They also bought Bucklebury Farm Park, a petting zoo said to have been Prince George’s favorite, for £1.5 million and, after overcoming neighbors’ objections and winning a lengthy planning battle, set about renovating it.
James Middleton arrived in 2022 with his French wife, 34-year-old financial analyst Alizee Thevenet. Your baby is expected in the next few months. He has experienced his own share of conflict amid an ongoing feud with a neighbor. James and his wife – as well as several other neighbors and the local council – opposed David and Karen Alderton’s plans to demolish their bungalow and replace it with a larger, state-of-the-art home.
The Middletons hired a planning consultant to argue their case and, after submitting a five-page report, the planning application was ultimately rejected by West Berkshire District Council.
James and Alizee’s own plans for changes to their property, including removing a conservatory and expanding garages, were given the green light by the same authority. Since then, however, the Aldertons have made several complaints about loud farm machinery and “noxious fumes” emanating from their neighbors’ property.
While they declined to speak to the Mail this week, Mr Alderton, who runs a motorcycle shop, told Mail Online in February that it had become like “Steptoe’s scrapyard” full of “clearly unsuitable machines”, saying: “There are three Barnyards full.” “Old farm machinery that’s of no use to anyone, and it all happens 50 feet from our front door.”
However, the saga appears to have done little to dent the couple’s reputation in the Bucklebury area
Although there is no suggestion his neighbor is behind the billboard campaign, James Middleton has reported Mr Alderton to the police for allegedly trespassing on his 12-acre smallholding, accusing him of being “intimidating” and “insincere”. Mr Alderton says he simply climbed a gate to “get his attention over the noise of a tractor”. He also disputes long-standing disputes with other villagers and the local council.
In general, there is little doubt that James is very popular in the area. Victoria Fullerton, wife of former Stanford Dingley council leader, said: “James made a good first impression in the village.” “To mark the anniversary he stopped by for a village photo and locals approved his plans to develop his smallholding.”
Another neighbor added: “James is an absolute asset to the village.” “He does just the right thing for the gardening and landscape.”
This week Thames Valley Police could not confirm reports that it had been informed about the poisoned poster campaign.
But it remains clear that in an area famous for its royal connections, there is something evil lurking in the proverbial woodshed.
Postmaster Eugene Smit warns: “The police have investigated the matter and there will be serious, serious repercussions.”