Hmm.. Middleton family online business in trouble? https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6833005/Party-supplies-company-run-Kate-Middletons-mother-Carole-laid-staff-fears-future.html

Carole and Michael Middleton founded Party Pieces in 1987 and have 40 staff. But they have reportedly laid off three members of staff over anxieties ahead 

Uh huh..let's take a look..

The company's web designer, PR agent and 'search engine optimisation' employee were among the recent firings. ..The firm, whose slogan is 'magical parties for over 30 years', says on its website it has 40 staff 'as well as a dedicated customer service team'.

There's that reference to Magic again...

The company began when the family returned to the UK from Jordan, where Mr Middleton had been managing an international air station for British Airways.

https://www.travelandleisure.com/travel-news/how-kate-middletons-parents-met

According to The Daily Beast, Middleton likely got her penchant for traveling from her parents, Michael and Carole Middleton, who met when he was working as a flight dispatcher and she as a flight attendant with British Airways in the mid-1970s. The pair then dated, and traveled, for a number of years before marrying on June 21,1980 at the Church of St James in Buckinghamshire.

In May of 1984, the Middleton family moved to Amman, Jordan for Michael’s job. There, the Telegraph explained, Carol took her extended maternity leave from British Airways to spend time with her two girls. …

As Town&Country explained, in 1987 Carole left the travel industry behind and founded her company Party Pieces, which started as a small mail order party supply and decoration company. Now that company is estimated to be worth more than $50 million.

That's a whole lot of paper cups and balloons..

Jordan

Prince William visits Jordan ruins where Duchess of Cambridge was pictured as child http://archive.is/Dfm6z#selection-2145.1-2145.84

He was joined by Jordan's Crown Prince Hussein

Prince Hussein is a graduate of Georgetown University.

During William's visit, the site hosted a celebration for young people benefiting from the Makani programme, a nationwide charity that works with those from deprived backgrounds, especially refugee communities.

Makani Unicef https://www.unicef.org/jordan/overview_12172.html

Any relation to this Makani of Royal Dutch Shell and Google X? https://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/alphabets-energy-moonshot-startups-makani-dandelion and https://royaldutchshellplc.com/2019/02/13/shell-invests-in-google-kite-flying/

Needs further invesitgation.. Reminds me of the Polaris question

Amman https://voat.co/v/JuiceTown/2406950/11975029

'In January, the Trump administration closed the operations center the CIA ran in Amman, the Jordanian capital, which coordinated aid to rebel organizations in southern Syria. '

Party Pieces website https://www.partypieces.co.uk/about-us

My first big break was after we distributed flyers with Red House Book Club. We grew quickly, and it wasn’t long before we had to find somewhere bigger to move to.

Red House Book Club from the Book People https://www.thebookpeople.co.uk/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/help_topic?topic=about&storeId=10001&langId=100

The Book People, another multi-million company started out of a garage by an ex-policeman https://www.theguardian.com/books/2002/aug/04/society

Behind these great offers lies some controversy: several sectors of the book trade are doubtful about The Book People's working practices. Agents and some authors complain that their deals are too tight. They talk of how the company is 'tolerated' only on the grounds that it is reaching an otherwise untapped market. Orders from The Book People appear on a writer's royalty statement as 'special sales' and are not subject to the standard contractual conditions an agent agrees with a publisher. 

Company information on Red House Book Club – has all the usual Finchley Road addresses – needs further scrutiny : https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/03306973/officers

One of the listed officers, for example https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/officers/B0GHP8rkHXwMGOElCSeIWrFbLno/appointments

is affiliated with something aclled the Chicken House https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Chicken_House

Founded in 2000 by Barry Cunningham and Rachel Hickman as Chicken House Publishing,

The Times/Chicken House Children’s Fiction Competition was launched in 2008 by Chicken House and The Times newspaper. … 2015 winner 2015: Laurel Remington, The Secret Cooking Club

The Times/Chicken House Children's Fiction Competition judging day! (at Savile Club)

Yes, @kestrel9, the membership list of the Savile Club does raise eyebrows. One of those members was WB Yeats, I came across this recently:

The Monster in the Rainbow: Keats and the Science of Life - https://www.jstor.org/stable/823143?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents

Need to dig out my notes to connect it with the other thread I was working on. Have to dash now .. family duites call..more later...