When Carole Middleton made an appearance at the 2026 Cheltenham Festival, she didn’t just exchange pleasantries with the Royal Family and move on to her own friends. Instead, Princess Kate’s mother walked into the racecourse with Zara and Mike Tindall, going on to watch the races from the royal box next to Queen Camilla and Princess Anne. Carole even hugged the no-nonsense Princess Royal as they cheered on the horses, and one royal biographer says that the Middletons have become a trusted part of the Royal Family.
Royal author and journalist Robert Jobson recently told Hello! that Carole’s discreet nature has helped earn the admiration of the royals. “The Middletons aren’t guests any more,” he shared. “They stopped being guests a long time ago. They’re family.”
He continues that the “shift” took time, but “it happened because of who Carole is and how she has conducted herself throughout every single one of those years.”
Whether it’s chatting with Princess Anne at Cheltenham or enjoying Royal Ascot with The King and Queen, Carole has seamlessly become part of the wider Royal Family.
“Trust is the thing with Carole,” Jobson noted. “She has been inside this world since William and Catherine first got together, and nothing has ever come out: not a conversation, not a confidence, not a whisper.”
Touching on the recent scandals surrounding Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, the royal biographer added that Carole’s discretion and “almost unheard-of” loyalty is a welcome change.
“When an institution is taking that kind of damage, what matters is having people close to the family who are solid and keep their counsel; who don’t brief, don’t gossip and don't disappear when things get hard,” Jobson shared. “Carole is that person.”
The Middletons have the "unique" position of being non-aristocratic Brits who just happen to be the parents of the future Queen. Carole and her husband, Michael, are active and involved grandparents to Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis, and even made a cameo in their daughter's official cancer recovery video.
“She does something that very few people manage,” the author continued of Carole. "She connects the institution to real family life, and that’s a unique role.”
