Carole Middleton's brother is not happy with how the Netflix show "The Crown" seemingly portrayed her as a social climber obsessed with playing matchmaker between her daughter, Kate Middleton, and Prince William.
Carole appeared in the sixth and final season of the series and was played by actress Eve Best. A made-up scene in episode 7 set in 1996 showed a young Kate (played by Ella Bright) developing a crush on the young royal after they met. This prompts Carole to secure her daughter a spot in the same course as him at St. Andrews University.
Royal watchers even compared Carole's representation on "The Crown" to the Kardashian matriarch, Kris Jenner, for allegedly masterminding her daughter's romance with Prince William.
"Kate Middleton's mom is the British Kris Jenner," one netizen wrote on X and another agreed: "Kate's Mum is our Kris Jenner."
A third noted: "Carole Middleton walked so Kris Jenner could run." One more commented: "Carole Middleton is the original Kris Jenner."
Kate Middleton’s mom is the British Kris Jenner #TheCrown pic.twitter.com/nzQkWvM6Z8
— rosechocglam (@rosechocglam) December 17, 2023
The Crown spoiler I guess
— Fienchen✨ (@fienchen_b) December 14, 2023
jfc Carole Middleton is some next level cringe groomer on the Crown 💀 the way they made her this meddling mastermind, didn't they know how to make the William/Kate thing interesting otherwise. pic.twitter.com/Jsu44BG1bk
Businessman Gary Goldsmith shared his frustration over the show's characterisation of his sister, telling the Daily Mail podcast, "The Crown: Fact or Fiction," that she "isn't that manipulative evil person... coming up with ways by which she can force her way into the Royal Family".
He added: "First and foremost, Kate did brilliantly well to get into St Andrews. She's an amazing girl, but that wasn't noted. It was all to do with 'Kate you've got to be doing these things, you've got to be showing your legs', and it's just not my family. It's not the way Carole operates."
Goldsmith also shared that he actually enjoyed the first few seasons of "The Crown" but lost interest after it drifted into a "fantasy world" for the sake of publicity.
He explained: "The narrative, the truth of it, has gone out of the way to try to get headlines. Once it started becoming ridiculous and fantastical, it was very difficult to watch, so I stopped."
He added: 'If they wrote a book, where would you put it? It's not going to be in the history of art, is it? Put it in the kids' section."
In real life, Prince William and Kate Middleton first met at St Andrews University. They moved in together as friends during their second year at university into 13A Hope Street, which is an off-campus apartment, together with their friends Fergus Boyd and Olivia Bleasdale.
But that friendship soon blossomed into romance as the prince said during their engagement interview: "We moved in together as friends because we were living together, we lived with a couple of others as well, it just sort of blossomed from there really. We just saw more of each other, hung out a bit more and did stuff."
According to royal reporter Tina Brown, Carole had a hand in paving the way for her daughter's romance with Prince William. She claimed that the former flight-attendant-turned-entrepreneur convinced her daughter to forego her acceptance at the University of Edinburgh and take a gap year so she can get into St. Andrews University.
"It is unlikely Kate would be where she is today without her mother's canny help in negotiating a royal romance. Carole's fingerprints are all over Kate's first move on the royal chessboard," Brown wrote in her explosive book "Palace Papers".
Likewise, Omid Scobie wrote in his book "Endgame: Inside the Royal Family and the Monarchy's Fight for Survival," that Carole "calculatingly placed Kate right at the centre" of Prince William's world.
Regardless, Kate Middleton and Carole herself have not commented or corrected these claims. Goldsmith admitted that he is even surprised that his sister "hasn't taken legal action" against "The Crown" for character misrepresentation.
