Whilst we know her as Catherine, Princess of Wales, first she was just Kate Middleton.
Born in 1982 to parents Carole and Michael Middleton, Catherine was raised in Berkshire alongside her younger siblings: sister Pippa and brother James.
Before she was a princess, Catherine Elizabeth Middleton was simply a young English girl living with her family.
Her humble beginnings arguably shaped her into the person she is today, and she still remains close to both her parents and her siblings.
Here, we outline everything to know about the parents of Catherine Middleton, Carole and Michael.
Carole Middleton, née Goldsmith, was born on 31 January 1955, making her 69 years old.
She dabbled in an array of careers in her life, having started as a secretary and then joining British Airways as a flight attendant until her marriage to Michael on 21 June 1980.
Carole then founded a mail order company called Party Pieces in 1987, which went on to see great success.
Meanwhile, Michael Middleton is currently 75 years old, having been born on 23 June 1949.
He is a businessman who also worked as a flight dispatcher for British Airways, where he met his wife Carole.
The couple have three children together: Catherine, born in 1982, Philippa, born in 1983, and James, born in 1987.
The Middleton family currently resides at Bucklebury Manor in Berkshire, which is quite close to Prince William and Princess Catherine’s residence at Adelaide Cottage in Windsor.
The Middletons have multiple young grandchildren, with their three children having children of their own.
Catherine and William are parents to Prince George, 10, Princess Charlotte, nine, and Prince Louis, six, while Pippa also has three children with her husband James Matthews. Pippa’s children are Arthur, five, Grace, three, and Rose, two.
The youngest Middleton sibling, James has one child, Inigo, nine months, with his wife Alizee Thevenet.
Both Carole and Michael have been seen at numerous royal engagements since Kate’s marriage to the current heir to the British throne.
And recently, despite Catherine’s absence from public life due to her cancer treatment, they have continued to attend public events.
The Middletons attended the 2024 Royal Ascot alongside their son-in-law William, and were also spotted at the Wimbledon tennis tournament.
As royal adjacents, the Middletons have become quite close to the royal family. It’s understood that Carole in particular shared a strong bond with the late Queen Elizabeth II.
“I’ve never known a family drawn into the royal family like the Middletons,” one observer at Balmoral Castle in 2016 told PEOPLE.
Another source added that, “The Middleton parents really could be the people next door. They are lucky their daughter is going to be the future queen, but there are no delusions of grandeur.”
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