Gary Goldsmith the 'Bad Uncle'.

 

Gary Goldsmith 

I don't watch Big Brother, but I've just been struck by the resemblance between Gary Goldsmith the "black sheep" maternal uncle of Catherine, Princess of Wales, and her eldest child Prince George.

The self-made multi-millionaire has just been slung out of the Celebrity Big Brother House after being in it for less than a week. Marrying into trade might improve the Royal Family gene pool, but it's not without its risks. 

Goldsmith, who has been married four times, is the brother of Carole Middleton, the mother of the Duchess of Cambridge. In July 2009, Goldsmith was the subject of a 'sting' by the News of the World in which he was filmed dealing cocaine to an undercover reporter. In October 2017, Goldsmith was charged with assault for beating his wife during a "drunken argument." He pleaded guilty to assault and was fined £5,000 and given a twelve-month community order.

Although Goldsmith and his sister Carole Middleton were brought up in a council house in Southall and Hounslow in London, they are descendants of Jane Harrison, nee Liddle, the great-great granddaughter of Sir Thomas Conyers, 9th Baronet, who was their great-great grandmother. Their father, Ronald Goldsmith, was a painter and decorator and their mother Dorothy, was a shop assistant.

Michael Middleton, the father of Catherine, Princess of Wales, is linked via his Leeds born cousin, Lady Bullock, to William Petty-FitzMaurice, 1st Marquess of Lansdowne, who was the Prime Minister of Great Britain between 1782 and 1783. Michael Middleton inherited trust funds from his grandmother, Olive Christiana Middleton (nee Lupton). Last year, the Middleton's were forced to sell off their party supplies firm, Party Pieces, after it racked up debts of £2.6 million.

Gary Goldsmith first met Prince William at a dinner party when he and Kate were dating. In 2006, he invited William and Kate to his eight-acre luxury property in Ibiza called La Maison de Bang Bang. Gary and his daughter Tallulah, were guests at Pippa Middleton's wedding ceremony to James Matthews in May 2017. Catherine and Pippa Middleton were nicknamed "the Wisteria Sisters", by those in aristocratic circles because of their ability to climb the social ladder.