EDEN CONFIDENTIAL: The Princess of Wales’s brother’s new dog food company named after his beloved spaniel goes through challenging times
Life’s roller-coaster never ceases for the Princess of Wales’s brother, James Middleton.
Undaunted by the collapse last year of Boomf — his company which sold novelty marshmallows among other gifts but accumulated trading losses of almost £2 million — he turned his attention to starting a new dog food company.
Hello Ella, named after his beloved spaniel, was dedicated to the ‘happiness and well-being of dogs’.
However, at the beginning of this year, the company’s namesake passed away — a blow to James which was followed by the joy of learning that his French wife, Alizee, is expecting their first child.
But now, once more, comes challenging news as Hello Ella’s assets are down to just £92,510 — compared with £334,591 the previous year.
James, 36, takes this in his stride. ‘I’m in a business that I love,’ he tells me, pointing out that it’s a young company, supported by an impressive team of investors.
Indeed. They include buccaneering insurance and property entrepreneur Raja Balasuriya — a man, I’m assured, who ‘won’t fritter his money’.
Kate Middleton With Younger Brother James Arrive At The Concert For Diana At Wembley Stadium In London
The youngest person to win MasterChef: The Professionals says cooking for Her late Majesty the Queen and Prince Philip ‘was the most stressful thing ever’.
Craig Johnston, 28, now head chef at Marcus Belgravia in London’s Knightsbridge, worked for The Royal Oak restaurant in Berkshire at the time and says he only learned who his guests were an hour before they arrived.
‘We had sniffer dogs in the kitchen,’ he recalls.
‘I think the [other] guests caught on — outside there were lots of police cars.
‘It was quite a formal affair, they’d come straight from Windsor Castle.’
His humble beginnings saw him flee the Nazi holocaust as a child.
Now Britain’s greatest living dramatist Sir Tom Stoppard, 88, has put an original script from his recent play Leopoldstadt into the Out of the Margins auction in aid of refugee artists.
The Oscar winner, whose 2020 play explores life in Vienna’s Jewish community in the early 20th century, tells me: ‘I wanted the buyer to end up with an annotated [copy] which is truly a one-off.’
Tom Stoppard, winner of the award for Best Play for “Leopoldstadt” poses in the press room during The 76th Annual Tony Awards at Radio Hotel on June 11, 2023 in New York City
Hollywood actress Jamie Lee Curtis has shared a fond memory she has of singer Sinead O’Connor, whose death aged 56 was announced yesterday.
‘I once heard Sinead sing a cappella in an empty chapel in Ireland,’ she reveals.
‘It was one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever heard in my life. We then went together to see Eminem at a festival. I loved her.’
Nothing will ever compare to Sinead…
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