Carole Middleton Admitted Press Intrusion Wore on Her Family During William and Kate's Courtship: "I Haven't Asked for All This"

Carole Middleton has long been accused of orchestrating Kate Middleton's relationship with Prince William, but according to a report, the mother of the future Queen once shared frustrations about how the royal courtship impacted her family.

Daily Mail reporter Richard Eden wrote in his Thursday, Jan. 30 column that Carole—whose daughter had been dating Prince William for five years at the time—had revealed to him what it was like for the Middletons behind the scenes while attending a 2008 horse race.

"'You see, I feel very vulnerable about everything,' she told me at the Hennessy Gold Cup, at Newbury racecourse, just a few miles from her house in Berkshire," Eden penned. Carole, who also shares daughter Pippa and son James with husband Michael Middleton, continued that the press intrusion around their family had impacted them greatly.

"I’m not a celebrity and don’t want to be one," she told Eden at the time. "Celebrities have minders and PR people. I don’t want a PR person and wouldn’t want to have to pay to employ one. I haven’t asked for all this."

Carole, who launched party supply story Party Pieces from her home and grew it into a hugely successful venture, continued that she was "worried" about James and Pippa, as well as her company.

"I'm concerned about my business; that's my focus," she told Eden during their 2008 meeting. "I don't want the attention to detract from that. I'm also worried for my family. I have three children, not just Catherine."

There has long been a narrative that Carole was the one who pushed Kate to attend the University of St. Andrews in order to snag a prince, even though the couple had already met as teenagers. The rumor has continued over the years in the media, in books, and on The Crown, as Eden noted, but as the columnist wrote, Prince William was the one who went after Kate, "and not the other way round."

Carole's brother, Gary Middleton, told The Crown: Fact or Fiction podcast that his sister's portrayal on the show was "that bad" he wondered "why Carole hasn't taken legal action." While the show made it seem like Kate's mom had pushed her into going after the prince, William actually paid £200 to win a date with Middleton during a charity auction, as revealed by one of their former university classmates in a recent interview.

As for Carole, the 69-year-old entrepreneur will mark her 70th birthday on Friday, Jan. 31—and with the Princess of Wales now in remission from cancer and seven grandchildren to spoil, it seems like she has plenty to celebrate this year.