Kate Middleton was born at Royal Berkshire Hospital in Reading on 9 January 1982, and christened at St Andrew's Bradfield, Berkshire on 20 June 1982. She is the eldest of three children born to Carole Elizabeth Middleton (nee Goldsmith), a former flight attendant and now part-owner of Party Pieces, a private company with an estimated worth of £30 million, and Michael Francis Middleton, who also worked as a flight attendant prior to becoming a flight dispatcher for British Airways, currently also an owner of Party Pieces. Kate Middleton parents married on 21 June 1980, at the Parish Church of Dorney, Buckinghamshire, and in 1987, founded Party Pieces, a mail order company that sells party supplies and decorations. Catherine has a sister, Philippa Charlotte, known as "Pippa" (born 1983), and a brother, James William (born 1987). The family has complained about press harassment of Pippa and their mother since Catherine's engagement.
