Kate and Pippa set to rally around Carole Middleton this week for important occasion

The celebration holds special significance for the Middletons, who have long maintained strong family traditions around birthday festivities, with the family matriarch having built her career around party planning through her former business, Party Pieces.

For the Middleton family, birthday celebrations have always been deeply meaningful. As Carole previously told Sheer Luxe: "Party Pieces has literally grown alongside my family, and I'm very proud of that."

Her children were actively involved in the family business from early on, Carole saying: "Pippa wrote our 'Party Times' blog, James did the cakes when he first left school, and Catherine developed our first birthday and baby category."

The tradition of celebration continues through the generations, with Princess Kate known to stay up until midnight baking birthday cakes for her own children, as she revealed during Mary Berry's A Berry Royal Christmas.

While specific plans for Friday's celebration remain private, the family gathering could take place at their Bucklebury Manor estate, a sprawling countryside retreat.

The manor house features five reception rooms, multiple bedrooms, a swimming pool and a tennis court, providing an ideal setting for family celebrations.

Previous milestone birthdays have been marked in grand style, with Carole's 60th celebrated in Mustique with pink champagne, fireworks and a jazz band performance.

Her 64th birthday in 2019 saw the family gather at daughter Pippa's Chelsea residence, with James Middleton and his then-fiancée Alizée Thevenet joining the festivities.

The Middleton women share a notable tradition of exchanging clothing, reminiscent of Queen Elizabeth II and Princess Margaret's practice.

Most recently, Carole was spotted wearing a white Max Mara coat at Kate's Christmas carol service, the same £580 piece her daughter had worn nine years earlier in Portsmouth.

The mother-daughter duo have also both been seen in a £450 shocking-pink Me+Em dress, with Kate first wearing it to meet cancer patient Mila Sneddon in 2021, and Carole later donning it at Royal Ascot in 2022.

The family's sharing tradition extends beyond mother and daughter, with Carole even lending her wedding dress to daughter-in-law Alizée Thevenet for her 2021 marriage to James Middleton.

While the past year has presented challenges for the Middleton family due to Princess Kate's health journey, recent positive developments suggest a more jubilant celebration may be possible.

The Princess of Wales, known for her involvement in family celebrations, completed chemotherapy treatment last autumn and confirmed she is now in remission.

This encouraging news, combined with the family's traditional approach to marking special occasions, indicates that Princess Kate will likely play a role in celebrating her mother's milestone birthday.

The family's resilience and close bonds have remained evident throughout recent challenges, making Friday's celebration particularly meaningful.