Carole Middleton dismissed Lindka Cierach three weeks ago
And with 2.5 billion people watching worldwide, Carole Middleton is understandably determined to look her best when Kate marries Prince William 12 days from now.
But after selecting Lindka Cierach, one of Britain’s leading couturiers, to create her outfit and spending the past four months attending many secret fittings, Kate’s mother has left Ms Cierach stunned by refusing to wear it at the 11th hour.
Mrs Middleton accused Ms Cierach, the London-based couturier best known for making the Duchess of York’s wedding dress, of being ‘unaccommodating’ and dramatically withdrew her business just weeks before the wedding.
Ms Cierach refused to be drawn into discussing the matter, but a fashion source
said she is ‘completely bemused after all the hard work she had put into creating the outfit’.
The couturier was commissioned soon after the announcement of the Royal engagement and asked to produce an elegant couture creation that would ensure Mrs Middleton cut a dash at Westminster Abbey on April 29.
Ms Cierach, who works from a studio in South Kensington, has an impeccable pedigree when it comes to making spectacular outfits for high-profile occasions, with a client list which includes royalty, aristocrats and celebrities. Her clients include Queen Rania of Jordan and Catherine Zeta-Jones.
After discussing her needs with Ms Cierach, whose mantra is to ‘accentuate the beautiful areas and disappear the others’ and whose prices start at £4,500, Mrs Middleton chose a dress with a matching tailored jacket.
She also ordered a matching hat to be made by top milliner Jess Collett, whose creations begin at £400.
But The Mail on Sunday has learned that Mrs Middleton dismissed Ms Cierach three weeks ago after asking the couturier if the outfit could be delivered, unfinished, to her home so she could show it to her friends.
Ms Cierach told her that the request was unconventional – people usually visit the studio – but that she would allow the outfit to leave if she could accompany it herself to ensure it was not damaged, nor details of the design leaked to other parties.
According to a source, Ms Cierach was taken aback when Mrs Middleton refused, claiming the designer was being ‘unaccommodating’ and saying she no longer wished to wear the outfit.
A fashion insider said: ‘It is unheard of for a couturier to allow something out of their studio unfinished. Mrs Middleton wanted it to be delivered to her home pinned together, as though it were ready to wear.’
'Bemused': Couturier Lindka Cierach
It is also understood Mrs Middleton claimed Ms Cierach’s studio was ‘too small’.
‘She was very grand about the whole thing. It was all done very abruptly and, frankly, rudely. Mrs Middleton can be very charming, but she can also turn in a flash,’ said a source.
Ms Cierach decided to finish the outfit anyway and sent it to Mrs Middleton’s home in Bucklebury, Berkshire, where it is now believed to be hanging.
But a friend of Mrs Middleton hit back: ‘At one point she was intending to wear Lindka Cierach, but now she’s found something she likes better, which is every woman’s prerogative, and she has told Lindka this.
‘Carole’s entitled to wear whatever she likes. It is her daughter’s wedding, after all.’
The friend added: ‘She paid her initial deposit and will be settling Lindka Cierach’s bill in full.
‘She was surprised to receive the outfit through the post last week, as she has not had a final fitting, which is now booked for May.’
It is thought the Queen has had to be informed of the dispute because the bridal party are required to inform her of their outfit choices in advance in order to avoid any clashes.
Shortly after parting ways with Ms Cierach, Mrs Middleton was pictured in The Mail on Sunday standing with her daughter Pippa and designer Alice Temperley outside Ms Temperley’s studio.
That led to speculation that one or both of them will be wearing one of her designs.
Examples of Lindka Cierach's elegant 'mother-of-the-bride' creations from her website
Emily Sheffield, deputy editor of style bible Vogue and Samantha Cameron’s sister, says in an article in May’s edition that Kate’s mother has ‘multiple appointments booked with designers’.
Bruce Oldfield has also been mentioned as a likely choice for Mrs Middleton, whom he has publicly praised for her ‘easy elegance’.
However, it is understood that Ms Cierach believed that when she won the commission, it was hers alone.
Ms Cierach, who was born in Lesotho of Polish-English parents and studied at the London College of Fashion before opening her business in 1979, is renowned for the painstaking precision she employs in her work.
Secret fittings: Carole and how the Mail on Sunday revealed her visit to designer Alice Temperley with her daughter Pippa, above
The Middleton's family home in Bucklebury, Berkshire, where Mrs Middleton wanted the dress delivered so she could show her friends
Once the style and fabric of the garment have been chosen and a sketch has been drawn, a version is made in a similar cloth for the first fitting, so it can be amended to obtain the perfect shape.
It is then made in the chosen cloth and fitted twice more to ensure the end result is perfect.
The website has a section dedicated to outfits for the mother of the bride, showing a variety of sophisticated dresses, jackets and suits.
Last night Ms Cierach declined to comment.
A Palace spokesman said: ‘What Mrs Middleton wears to the wedding is her own private business.’
ONE DAY, THREE RECEPTIONS
They are party people by profession so it is perhaps no surprise that Carole and Michael Middleton plan to spend their daughter’s wedding day doing just that.
Following the Queen’s traditional breakfast reception after the wedding at Westminster Abbey, Kate’s parents plan to continue toasting their daughter’s big day with friends and family at their hotel before they return to Buckingham Palace for the evening reception.
As The Mail on Sunday revealed in December, the Middletons will be staying at the five-star Goring Hotel in Belgravia over the wedding weekend.
They have invited just over 100 family and friends to the wedding, some of whom will have come from as far as Australia, Switzerland and Italy.
But few of them have been invited to the Palace for the wedding breakfast and evening reception. So the Middletons have decided to host their own party at the Goring on April 29.
‘Carole and Michael want to make sure that all the friends they have invited have a fun afternoon after the service,’ says a friend. ‘They don’t want people to have come all the way to London only to have to turn round and go
home after the service.
‘We have been told there is going to be an all-day party with food and drink at the Goring after the service and Carole and Michael will be coming to see everyone after the reception at the Palace. It should be quite a celebration.’
It is not yet decided whether the bride and groom will also attend the reception at the Goring.
Following the Queen’s traditional breakfast reception after the wedding at Westminster Abbey, Kate’s parents plan to continue toasting their daughter’s big day with friends and family at their hotel before they return to Buckingham Palace for the evening reception.
As The Mail on Sunday revealed in December, the Middletons will be staying at the five-star Goring Hotel in Belgravia over the wedding weekend.
They have invited just over 100 family and friends to the wedding, some of whom will have come from as far as Australia, Switzerland and Italy.
But few of them have been invited to the Palace for the wedding breakfast and evening reception. So the Middletons have decided to host their own party at the Goring on April 29.
‘Carole and Michael want to make sure that all the friends they have invited have a fun afternoon after the service,’ says a friend. ‘They don’t want people to have come all the way to London only to have to turn round and go
home after the service.
‘We have been told there is going to be an all-day party with food and drink at the Goring after the service and Carole and Michael will be coming to see everyone after the reception at the Palace. It should be quite a celebration.’
It is not yet decided whether the bride and groom will also attend the reception at the Goring.
Middletons invite doorstep loans boss (and lots of double-barrels)
By CHRISTOPHER LEAKE and JO MACFARLANE
The boss of a controversial doorstep lender which charges up to 545 per cent interest has been invited to the Royal Wedding.
John de Blocq van Kuffeler, 62, chairman of Provident Financial, and his wife Lesley – who, like Prince William and Kate Middleton, holiday on the Caribbean island of Mustique – are understood to have been invited by Kate’s parents.
But critics claimed the invitation to Mr van Kuffeler, an advisory board member of the Prince’s Trust, was ‘inappropriate’.
Guest: Artist Gemma Billiington with Kate Middleton
Provident Financial, which is expected to make record profits of £140 million this year, has 1.7 million customers, most on low incomes who borrow up to £500.
The company has come under attack from charities, including Barnardo’s, whose president is the Duchess of Cornwall and whose patron is the Queen.
Two years ago, Barnardo’s then chief executive Martin Narey accused Provident and other loan firms of plunging poor families into ‘worrying levels of debt’ which he described as ‘immoral and unnecessary’.
Barnardo’s said that for a £500 loan over 23 weeks, Provident customers repaid £747.50 – an annual percentage rate (APR) of 545.2.
The van Kuffelers own a £2.5 million townhouse in London’s upmarket Knightsbridge plus a £700,000 country home on the Essex-Hertfordshire borders.
Mr van Kuffeler refused to discuss his wedding invitation.
Guest: Loans boss John de Blocq van Kuffeler
Clarence House refused to comment on wedding guests.
However, a glance at the Middletons’ list reveals that despite their efforts to join in with the ‘People’s Wedding’ theme by inviting their village postman and local shopkeeper, they have included a host of wealthy friends with the requisite double-barrelled surnames.
Gracing the pews of Westminster Abbey will be a veritable Who’s Who of the
village community of Bucklebury, Berkshire – including a racehorse trainer related to Tim Henman, and a wealthy landowner with links to ancient Royalty.
Most live in multi-million-pound mansions along an exclusive road called The Avenue, lined with oak trees planted to commemorate a visit by Queen Elizabeth I.
The area is a private, 1,600-acre estate owned by wedding guest Willie Hartley Russell.
He is chairman of his family’s charitable trust, the Donnington Hospital Trust, which manages a substantial property portfolio and runs almshouses for the elderly.
His wife Marina confirmed the couple would attend the wedding, saying: ‘We are so excited.’
Edwin Bruce-Gardner, an actuary, and his doctor wife Belinda, who live in a £2 million home in a nearby village, confirmed they would be going. Mrs Bruce-Gardner, who is a trustee of Mr Hartley Russell’s charity, said: ‘We can’t wait.’
Katie and Torquil Montague-Johnstone, who live in a farmhouse next to the Middletons, said they were ‘hugely looking forward’ to attending.
Mr Montague-Johnstone is a finance chief reported to have made £3.3 million selling shares in his parcel delivery group Business Post in 1998.
Also invited are Tim and Gemma Billington, friends of the family whose children went to school with Kate. Tim is a farmer and racehorse trainer who has bred Royal Ascot winners, while Gemma is an artist.
Tim’s father Henry was a tennis player and competed at Wimbledon. His nephew is Tim Henman.
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