What to Know About Kate Middleton’s Uncle, Celebrity Big Brother‘s Gary Goldsmith

Amid speculation about the health and whereabouts of Kate Middleton, the Princess of Wales, some royalists tuned in to U.K. reality TV show Celebrity Big Brother to get updates from one contestant—her uncle Gary Goldsmith.

That access was short-lived, with Goldsmith being the first contestant voted out by the public and evicted from the Celebrity Big Brother house on Friday, after just four nights.

His niece Kate underwent a “planned abdominal surgery” in January, after which Kensington Palace said she would be absent from royal duties until after Easter on March 31. However, the secrecy around the reason for the surgery has caused internet theories to proliferate.

The health questions come at a sensitive time for the royal family as Kate’s father-in-law, King Charles III, has postponed public-facing duties as he is undergoing treatment for an unspecified type of cancer after a diagnosis in February.

Here’s what we know about Kate’s uncle, his appearance on Celebrity Big Brother, and what he said about his niece.

Who is Kate Middleton’s uncle, Gary Goldsmith?

Gary Goldsmith, 58, is the younger brother of Carole Middleton, Kate’s mother.

Goldsmith was raised in humble beginnings in Hounslow, west London, the Independent reported. He left school to work in IT and joined a tech recruitment firm Computer Futures, reportedly making £17 million when he sold his shares in 2005, per ITV. He then lived a lavish lifestyle that reportedly included a property in Ibiza and an island in the Mediterranean, but he was photographed by former newspaper News of the World with what appeared to be a class A substance in 2009.

Since leaving Computer Futures, he’s held various chairman, advisor, and chief operating officer roles, according to the Evening Standard. He’s listed as the current secretary of the Recruitment Directors Lunch Club, a business leaders’ network.

Goldsmith has been married four times and pleaded guilty to assault against his fourth wife, Julie-Ann Goldsmith, during a drunken argument in 2017, the BBC reported. He was fined £5,000 ($6,374) and sentenced to a 12-month community order and 20 sessions of rehabilitation.

Goldsmith joined Celebrity Big Brother in its new season, which began airing on ITV on Monday night, joining a dozen other contestants. The show will run for a total of 19 days.

“I often read that people think I’m a bit of a bad boy,” Goldsmith said in a video introducing himself for Celebrity Big Brother. “It’d be lovely to put the record straight, but winding people up is probably my favorite hobby.”

“I’m an absolute nightmare to live with,” he added. “There’s a reason I’ve had four wives.” 

Women’s Aid, a charity supporting domestic violence survivors, put out a statement saying that the decision to include Goldsmith in the house “demonstrates the lack of awareness that the production team has when it comes to survivors of domestic abuse.”

What did Gary Goldsmith say about Kate Middleton on Celebrity Big Brother?

In his introductory video, Goldsmith said that his niece Kate, “the future queen of our country,” is “simply perfect.”

When Goldsmith entered the CBB house, one of the hosts, AJ Odudu, asked him whether Kate would be watching. “If she is, it’ll be behind a sofa, I guess,” he responded. “Which sofa though? Where’s the sofa?” the hosts followed up. “It’ll be a nice one, in a nice house, I can guarantee that,” Goldsmith replied.

On March 5, fellow contestant and former talent show The X Factor judge Louis Walsh asked Goldsmith: "Is it difficult for you, being related to famous people?"

“I didn’t vote for it, it happened to me, and then suddenly there’s a spotlight on you,” Goldsmith responded. “They call me the buncle! Have you heard of a buncle? Bad uncle, apparently every family has them.”

“It’s difficult to get hold of Kate at the best of times, and she’s got children and I love the fact that she’s putting family first,” he added.  

He also said he believes Kate and her husband, Prince William, are both "the savior of the royal family,” CBB’s host network ITV reported. 

In the episode which aired on March 6, fellow contestant and Love Island U.K. winner Ekin-Su Culculoglu asked Goldsmith: “Where’s Kate?”

Goldsmith responded: “So because she doesn’t want to talk about it…The last thing I’m going to do is…There is the kind of code of etiquette, if it’s announced, I’ll give you an opinion.” 

“I hope she’s okay,” Culculoglu interjected. 

Goldsmith replied that he had spoken with his sister, Kate’s mother. “She’s getting the best care in the world,” he said about his niece. “All the family has done is put the wagons round and look after family first, before anything else.” 

“They put a statement out that just said it just takes some time to recoup and we’ll see you in Easter,” he added. Culculoglu followed up: “I’ve heard mixed things about Kate and I don’t want to make a comment, but whatever it is, do you want her to come back?”

“She’ll be back, of course she will,” Goldsmith replied.

Earlier in the episode, Goldsmith told a fellow contestant, presenter and author Fern Britton, that he gets annoyed when people call Kate common. “There’s nothing common about their family,” the Daily Express reported.

In his exit interview on March 8, Goldsmith praised fellow contestant Levi Roots, an entrepreneur who succeeded on the business investment reality TV show Dragons’ Den.

“I’ve got all the love and respect for him as a human being and I just know if he was to win, he’d use that power for good, for other people as opposed to self-career development, earning more money. The man’s a legend,” Goldsmith said. When asked if Kate would agree with that, he replied: “100%. He is somebody who puts other people first, and that’s our Kate.”

Goldsmith also said he had the “best, best, best of times” on the show. He said he was “self-doubting” when he entered the house, should have been “a bit more authentic,” and “could have been way more gregarious.”