His visit to Royal Ascot with his wife Carole last week told the nation that his daughter Kate is doing well as she continues her cancer treatment.
But as he turns 75 today, Michael Middleton may well be reflecting on how difficult this year has been for his family and royals.
The Princess of Wales and her husband, Prince William, have had the support of Michael and Carole since her diagnosis, which was announced after King Charles revealed his own struggle with the disease.
The continued health issues facing their daughter and the King come after happy news last October, when Michael and Carole’s son James welcomed their baby boy Inigo with his wife Alizee Thevenet.
His visit to Royal Ascot with his wife Carole last week told the nation that his daughter Kate is doing well as she continues her cancer treatment. But as he turns 75 today, Michael Middleton may well be reflecting on how difficult this year has been for his family and royals.
Carole clings to Prince William for support as she chats to him and her husband Michael at Royal Ascot on Wednesday.
Born in Leeds in 1949, Michael was raised by his parents, Captain Peter Middleton and Valerie Glassborow, in a family with an aristocratic background.
They both served in the Second World War: Peter as a pilot in the Royal Air Force and Valerie as a code-breaker and volunteer nurse.
During his service in the RAF, Peter flew alongside Prince Philip as co-pilot during a two-month tour of South America in 1962.
Like his father and grandfather, Michael attended Clifton College, a boarding school in Bristol, before studying and graduating from the University of Surrey.
Originally, Michael had planned to follow in his father’s footsteps and become a pilot.
He studied at the British European Airways flight school, before deciding to join the ground crew.
Michael then began working for British Airways as a flight dispatcher, where he met Carole, whose maiden name was Goldsmith.
The couple married on June 21, 1980 at St. James Church in Buckinghamshire.
The Princess of Wales and her husband, Prince William, have had the support of Michael and Carole since her diagnosis. Above: Kate revealed her condition to the world in March.
Carole and Michael Middleton at the King’s Coronation last year. His support of William and Kate prompted the Prince to resume his royal duties.
Michael cuts a dignified figure as he presents his daughter, Kate, at their 2011 wedding.
Carole and Michael with their other children, Pippa and James, and the Royal Family on Kate and William’s wedding day in 2011.
Last October, Kate’s brother James Middleton welcomed his first child with his wife Alizee Thevenet.
Watching over a future King: Michael with his grandson Prince George as they watch the inaugural Kings Cup regatta in Cowes, 2019
While working for British Airways as a flight dispatcher, he met his future wife, Carole Goldsmith. Above: The couple in 2010 when William and Kate announced their engagement.
Two years later, in 1982, they welcomed their first daughter, Catherine. In 1983 she was followed by her second daughter, Philippa (or Pippa, as she is now known to the world).
Michael moved with his family to Amman, Jordan, from May 1984 to September 1986 for work.
After their return to England in 1987, Michael and Carole welcomed baby James.
Until Catherine was 13, the family lived in a two-bedroom cottage in Bradfield, Berkshire. They later moved to nearby Bucklebury, where they remain today.
In 2012, the couple moved to their current home in Bucklebury, a Tudor-style manor house.
Carole founded her ill-fated company Party Pieces in 1987. By the 1990s, the company that sold party supplies and decorations had diversified into mail order and was run by Carole and Michael.
However, the company later went bankrupt owing £2.6 million to creditors.
Since becoming grandparents to Kate and William’s three children, George, Charlotte and Louis, Michael and Carole have played an even bigger role in the royals’ lives.
William refused to allow them to be treated as his non-royal in-laws had been in the past, when they were often excluded from events.
The late Queen was delighted and enthused by the Middletons’ hard-working and aspirational values.
Michael and Carole were invited to Balmoral and Sandringham, where they were guests on Christmas Day. And they also attended the King’s Coronation.
William’s love for his in-laws was evident last week when he warmly greeted Carole and Michael at Royal Ascot.
The Prince of Wales helped Carole when her heel got stuck in the grass and was later pictured chatting with her and her father-in-law.
The Ascot outing was Carole and Michael’s first public appearance since Kate’s cancer diagnosis.
In her 2022 book The Palace Papers: Inside the House of Windsor – the Truth and the Turmoil, royal commentator Tina Brown described how William “adopted” the Middleton family after just a year of dating Kate.
An acquaintance told Brown: ‘Not only did he fall in love with her, but he fell in love with them too. A warm nest with a complete nuclear family and seemingly wonderfully simple.
“The father played the father, the mother the county tiger mother, but he also saw the daughters and James get along (and want to get along) with their parents. What a contrast!
William, who could choose between palaces to spend his weekends, enjoyed nothing more than “tennis, television and Carole’s comforts at the Middleton mansion,” Brown said.
The Prince’s love for the entire Middleton family was evidenced by his decision in 2011 to spend Christmas at his mansion in Bucklebury, West Berkshire, rather than with the Royal Family.
William was such a regular guest at the Middleton home that he moved his quad bike there from Highgrove.
Kate was seen sitting on her father’s lap when she was young. She has always been close to her parents.
A touching family photo of Michael Kate as a baby
Four-year-old Catherine Middleton with her father and sister Pippa in Jerash, Jordan
Pippa, Michael and Carole Middleton leave Westminster Abbey carol service in 2021
He also joined the family on vacations, including to the island of Mustique, once a favorite of Princess Margaret.
Meanwhile, Michael became a “surrogate father” of sorts, according to Brown.
An acquaintance said: ‘If your own father always hosts dinners for fifty people on Catherine the Great porcelain or whatever, it’s not very relaxing.
“Whereas the Middletons were like a pipe and slippers, with the radio on, which is a bit of a William and Kate kind of world.”
Carole and Michael have also formed a very close bond with their royal grandchildren.
They were the first family members to visit Prince George when he was born in 2013 and have been a constant presence in his life ever since.
A month after the young royal was born, Michael volunteered to take the first photo of his new grandson so William and Kate wouldn’t have to hire an outside photographer.
Following Kate’s cancer diagnosis earlier this year, it was Carole and Michael’s continued support that allowed William to continue taking on some royal duties, even as his father, the King, also battles the disease.
In April, William was spotted in a Norfolk pub with his mother-in-law. It was another sign of how close they are.
During the Easter school holidays, Carole stayed with Wales again, according to the Mail’s Richard Eden.
Ingrid Seward, editor-in-chief of Majesty Magazine, previously said: ‘Carole and Michael are as family to William as they are to Catherine.
‘He loves that Carole is around to help as she has been with the children from the beginning and it is easy and comforting to have her invaluable help.
‘Both with the children and to keep Catherine’s spirits up. She is a strong woman!