James Middleton once dreamed of becoming the next Richard Branson. But then Kate’s brother turned to the Good Life (and breeding spaniels) to find peace in the countryside with his pregnant wife…
- Kate’s brother has described depression as a ‘cancer of the mind’
- James was only 24 when he was thrust into the limelight at sister Kate’s wedding
- For all the latest Royal news, pictures and video click here
He’s the ‘baby’ of the famously tight-knit Middleton clan.
And while James Middleton reportedly once dreamed of becoming the next Richard Branson, the 36-year-old now lives the Good Life with his pregnant wife Alizee Thevenet in the Berkshire countryside.
Gone are the days when he was depicted as a spoiled playboy with a Mustique suntan enjoying the high-life in Chelsea.
James – who famously dated actress Donna Air – appears happiest in muddy boots surrounded by his pack of pooches, a rabbit named Pretzel, as well as sheep, ducks, goats, hens and beehives.
If all goes well, there will be a new baby to care for, soon. James and Alizee recently announced the good news on Instagram.
‘We have a new member of the pack coming soon, we couldn’t be more excited,’ wrote James
Alizee showed off her baby bump alongside James at Wimbledon this week
Unlike his sister Kate, who remains tight-lipped on personal matters, the entrepreneur has been searingly honest about his mental health, previously describing his depression as a ‘cancer of the mind’.
Just recently, he spoke about the sad death of his therapy dog, Ella, revealing that the spaniel had slipped away in his arms after being together for 15 years.
In the spotlight
James came into the spotlight after his sister Kate began dating Prince William. The world became fixated on who the future king’s new in-laws could be.
Pictured: James (far right) with sister Pippa and Prince Harry on the Buckingham Palace balcony following at William and Kate’s wedding
An official portrait of the Royal family for William and Kate’s 2011 wedding. Back row to the right of Kate are Michael and Carole Middleton, James Middleton and Pippa Middleton
At the time, James was in his early teens and had just started at Marlborough College so avoided the same publicity as his sister.
Then in 2011, a rather shy 24-year-old James was pictured suited and booted at the royal wedding alongside the Queen, Prince Philip and Prince Harry.
Speaking about the biggest day of his sister’s life, he said: ‘The most wonderful thing about that wedding which will stay with me forever was that, although billions were watching, it felt like a family wedding.’
Over the years James and the rest of the Middleton family – mother Carole, father, Michael and sister Pippa – have been included in official royal photographs, including the christenings of niece Charlotte and nephews George and Louis.
He has also been invited to spend Christmas in Sandringham with the rest of the royals.
He did not appear to attend the Queen’s funeral, but paid tribute and said: ‘Queen Elizabeth II, the epitome of steady grace, resolve and reassurance. Our constant in a world of change. Thank you for a lifetime of service & leadership.’
Upbringing and school years
James enjoyed an idyllic childhood alongside his older sisters, Kate, now 41, and Pippa, now 39, in Bucklebury, Berkshire.
By his own admission he said he had ‘been so lucky with my upbringing’ adding ‘I had all the things I wanted.’
But his school years were challenging.
Since childhood, James has known that he is dyslexic, but in 2018 he was also diagnosed with ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder).
James in a picture from childhood he shared on Instagram
He shared this picture with his mother Carole to mark Mother’s Day in March 2023 with the caption: ‘You make my world go around.’
James Middleton was first pushed into the spotlight at Kate and William’s wedding in April 2011. Pictured from left to right: Pippa, James, Michael Middleton, Kate holding Charlotte and William holding George’s hand in 2016
In an article for the Daily Mail in 2019, James said: ‘From as early as I can remember I knew my brain was wired differently from most people’s. At my prep school — St Andrew’s, in Pangbourne, Berkshire — I was very slow in reading and maths, but also dextrous and practical.’
James said he would assemble IKEA flat packs and ‘mini steam toys’, but when it came to reading aloud in class, his dyslexia would hinder him.
He was ‘terrified’ of being ridiculed and ‘ashamed’ that he could not read at the speed of his peers and would hide his beginners reading book inside an advanced one so nobody would bat an eyelid.
He added: ‘I also began to feel the pressure of not being able to write properly. Words became indecipherable squiggles because I didn’t know how to spell them (I often still don’t). And I became isolated by my dyslexia because I’d lose out on extra-curricular activities while I was catching up on academic work. Permanently, I lagged behind.’
When he followed his sisters, Kate and Pippa, to board at Marlborough College, Wiltshire, he said that he was ‘horribly homesick.’
He wrote: ‘Catherine had already left for university by the time I got there, but having Pippa around was a comfort. Even so, I didn’t fit in.’
And he recalled the pressure of being a Middleton: ‘It was, “Oh you are Pippa’s brother! Are you Catherine’s brother?” And so I was automatically put into the top sports teams and academic sets. But I was a bit of a squirt when I started, so then it would be, “Are you sure you’re a Middleton?”.’
In later years he took great pains to avoid another subject of teasing – his sister’s relationship with William.
It is not known how many times James met the late Queen. He often attended family events, such as the christenings of Prince George and Princess Charlotte. Pictured back row third from the left
James (pictured right alongside Pippa and husband James Matthews in 2019) is the youngest of the three Middleton siblings. He was watched by millions around the world as he delivered a Bible reading at Kate and Prince William’s 2011 wedding.
‘I used to be first up in the morning to make sure I could get the papers and rip out any stories about my sister so nobody would see them and there would be no conversations about them,’ he said.
After finishing his studies at the college he embarked on a four–year environmental resources management course at Edinburgh University.
But just one year into the degree he dropped out.
‘Within a few weeks I knew it wasn’t where I wanted to be. I was always looking for business ideas,’ he previously said.
Career
It was no surprise a young James was hungry to be an entrepreneur. He had of course seen the success of his parents’ multi-million pound business, Party Pieces.
Mother Carole set up the company from her kitchen table in 1987 while pregnant with James and while she was looking for inspiration for her daughter Kate’s birthday party.
A friend previously said: ‘There is no doubt about it, James would like to be the next Richard Branson. He is surfing on the crest of a wave at the moment. All his friends think he will make serious money.’
Having quit university, James started his business career with the help of a reported £11,000 loan from his uncle Gary Goldsmith.
The youngest Middleton believed that he could only ever work for himself and so he set up two business by the time he was 20 years old
In 2013, James set up Boomf, a business that allowed you to print personal photos on marshmallows
He planned to provide upmarket cake kits for people too busy to bake from scratch and sold the products through Party Pieces, the mail-order website owned by his parents.
He told GQ in 2012: ‘My dream, which came to me when I was flying back up to Edinburgh after a weekend home, was to build a cake empire.’
And he praised his family for their support: ‘My mother and father have been fantastic help and a huge support for me. Like any other family, though, we have our moments, living and working together.’
After setting up The Cake Kit Company in 2007, James then set up Nice Cakes and Nice Wine.
But in 2015, James applied to have the two cake firms as well as his wine business struck off the official register at Companies House.
The accounts showed that the company had just £20 in the bank and that James had to rely on his family to support the business, reports said at the time.
James previously told the Daily Mail: ‘The Cake Kit Company is still selling but only business to business.
‘The companies I’ve requested to be struck off have never traded. My work focus at the moment is just on Boomf, which is proving to be a very excited [sic] business.’
Boomf – named after the noise ‘a marshmallow makes when it falls through your letterbox’ – specialised in printing pictures on marshmallows at £15 for a box of nine before branching out to greeting cards.
He said of the business: ‘I think my family knows that I’m slightly off the wall with my way of thinking, so I think they’re quite used to my weird and wonderful creations.’
Investors in Boomf included James Matthews, the billionaire husband of James’ sister Pippa, greetings card company Moonpig founder Nick Jenkins and former VoucherCodes mogul Duncan Jennings.
But in December 2021, the company fell into administration with heavy losses after eight years. It was bought in 2022 by British-Estonian businessman Stepan Galaev as part of his company – called Otkrytka Limited – for £300,000.
Meanwhile, in 2020 James launched dog food brand Ella&Co, named after his beloved black cocker Spaniel.
The company claims the freeze-dried and cold-pressed raw dog food is ‘100% human-grade’.
In a personal message on the company’s website, James wrote: ‘A few years back, my dogs helped pull me out of a really difficult battle with depression.
‘When I reached the other side, I set out on a mission to make their lives just as happy and as healthy as they’ve made mine, starting with the food they eat.’
Relationship with his sisters Kate and Pippa
James previously spoke of how he leads a separate life to his sisters.
The entrepreneur admitted he struggled to cope as, first his eldest sister Kate, then his other sister Pippa became some of the most famous women in the world.
He told society bible Tatler: ‘Suddenly, and very publicly, I was being judged about whether I was a success or a failure.
‘That does put pressure on you. Because in my mind I’m doing this irrespective of my family and events that have happened.’
When he followed his sisters, Kate and Pippa, to board at Marlborough College, Wiltshire, he said that he was ‘horribly homesick’. Pictured: James and Pippa Middleton in 2014 at Wimbledon
‘I lead a separate life to them,’ he continued.
‘If there’s interest in me, great. If there’s interest in me because of them, that’s different.
‘All I want to do in my life is be known as me and for what I do,’ he said.
And in 2014 he revealed: ‘We’re a close family and we see each other and speak on the phone all the time.’
This bond also extends to his nieces and nephews.
‘Like any uncle wants to be, I want to be the cool uncle. The fun uncle. That’s what sort of I’ll always try and be,’ he said after Prince George was born.
Being open about his mental health
James opened up about his clinical depression – which first hit him at the end of 2016 – in the article he wrote for the Daily Mail.
He wrote: ‘I know I’m richly blessed and live a privileged life. But it did not make me immune to depression. It is tricky to describe the condition. It is not merely sadness. It is an illness, a cancer of the mind.
‘It’s not a feeling but an absence of feelings. You exist without purpose or direction. I couldn’t feel joy, excitement or anticipation – only heart-thudding anxiety propelled me out of bed in the morning. I didn’t actually contemplate suicide — but I didn’t want to live in the state of mind I was in either.’
James said that he ‘couldn’t communicate’ with his loved ones, and their ‘anxious’ texts would get more frequent, but he would not reply to them.
At his lowest, he refused to answer his door or phone calls. He listened to audiobooks, including Stephen Fry’s narration of the Harry Potter series.
In 2017, he came close to shutting down his company Boomf, as he ‘barely functioned’ due to his depression.
At the end of that year, James accepted that he needed help and called his doctor. Holding back a ‘waterfall of emotion’ James managed to say to her ‘I’m not OK. I need some help.’
He gave his permission to allow his doctor to speak to his family who had been worried about him for months.
He took time off in January 2019 to learn about depression and go to therapy, while he and his family tried to navigate the complexity of the mental health condition.
James explained how his sisters, Pippa and Kate, and their parents were there for him during some very difficult times, and had the patience to help him even when they couldn’t fully understand what he was going through.
He said: ‘I was very lucky that they were willing to be involved and understood that it’s a process, there’s no quick fix to it.
Opening up about his depression, James wrote: ‘It is not merely sadness. It is an illness, a cancer of the mind’. Pictured: Pippa and James
At the end of 2017, James accepted that he needed help and called his doctor. Holding back a ‘waterfall of emotion’ James managed to say to her ‘I’m not OK. I need some help’
James’s black spaniel, Ella, (pictured) was an important part of his journey, as she went with him to all of his therapy sessions
At the start of this year, James had to say a hard goodbye to Ella (pictured), as she passed away aged 15 following a short illness
‘And understanding the way that my mind works, which may differ from theirs or other people’s is a really important part, because it was was a process for me as much as it was a process for them, and I think as a family we grew from that.’
By speaking out, James said he felt as though a weight had been lifted and often talks openly about his depression in the press and on social media.
James’s black spaniel, Ella, was an important part of his journey, as she went with him to all of his therapy sessions. The pair volunteered at Pets As Therapy charity, with Ella being a trained therapy dog.
James said that Ella supported him ‘from my darkest days to my happiest’.
But at the start of this year, James had to say a hard goodbye to Ella, as she passed away aged 15 following a short illness.
In an emotional Instagram post to his followers, he wrote: ‘It is with great sadness that I announce my dear Ella has passed away.
‘For 15 years Ella has been at my side, from my darkest days to my happiest. I’m going to miss her terribly.
‘Ella had a very short illness, she slipped away in my arms at home and is now buried in the garden alongside Tilly. I took this picture just a few hours before she died
‘I’m just about holding it together to write this, and despite the fact I knew this day was coming, it doesn’t make it any easier.
‘Goodnight my darling Ella, Alizee and the dogs will take good care of me.’
Therapy dog Ella did more than help him through the tough times – she even introduced him to his wife, Alizée.
Married life and a farmhouse in the country
There was a time when Donna Air looked set to become a Middleton.
James previously dated the actress for five years, but their on-off romance ended in 2017 because of ‘timing’.
Donna said in an interview after their split: ‘With James it wasn’t meant to be, but we were together for five years and he’s a great guy, we had a lot of fun. The timing wasn’t right. I wish him nothing but happiness.’
Donna has had high profile relationships with Damian Aspinall and James Middleton. Pictured, Donna with James and Pippa Middleton at an event in London in 2015
James and Alizée Thevenet got engaged in 2019 and got married two years later in in Bormes-les-Mimosas
James would go on to be introduced to his now wife Alizee Thevenet at a pub – thanks to his dog Ella.
Writing in The Telegraph, James explained he met Alizée in 2018 at Chelsea’s the South Kensington Club when Ella ‘made a beeline for Alizée’.
James, who was ’embarrassed’, went over ‘to apologise and bring Ella back’, and recalled how Alizée thought he was a waiter and ‘ordered her drink while continuing to stroke Ella, who at this point was on her back lapping up the attention.’
He continued: ‘Little did I know, but I had just met my future wife, all thanks to Ella. If I hadn’t trusted Ella, I wouldn’t have brought her to the South Kensington Club and she wouldn’t have been able to say hi to the woman who became my fiancée.’
James and Alizée got engaged in 2019 and got married two years later in in Bormes-les-Mimosas. They had to delay the ceremony twice due to the Covid pandemic.
They were joined by 50 guests including the Prince and Princess of Wales and their three children at the Chateau Leoube, an exclusive vineyard in the village that produces some of France’s finest rose wine.
Alizee’s father Jean-Gabriel Thevenet spoke at the time of his joy at the couple’s engagement, saying: ‘It’s a genuine love story.’
The retired diplomate told The Mail on Sunday: ‘I’m absolutely delighted for them.
‘James is a true gentleman and they make an adorable couple. I’m sure they will be so happy together.’
The couple lived in west London for two years, but decided to pack up in 2021 and move in to the country for a £1.45million four-bedroom Grade II listed period farmhouse in Stanford Dingley, near Bucklebury.
James posted snaps of the house on Instagram at the time and wrote: ‘I think buying a house is up there with one of the most stressful experiences in my life.
‘It’s been a hectic few months moving in to our new home and we couldn’t be happier.
‘We are settling into our life in the country and the dogs loving their new home.’
Photographs of the house revealed low ceilings, dark rustic beams and leaded windows. And his beloved dogs seemed joyful, posing in front of a brick fireplace inside their home.
This means that after a tough couple of years, the pair are now neighbours with the rest of the Middletons as James’s parents Carole and Michael live in a £4.7 million Georgian manor house in Berkshire as well.
Pippa has Bucklebury Farm Park, a petting zoo which is a favourite of Kate and William’s children, Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis.
And James and Alizée have fully embraced life in the country, as they have sheep, ducks, goats, hens and beehives as well as dogs.
Speaking to The Mail on Sunday, James said: ‘This morning, I was up at six – vaccinating our flock of Herdwick sheep, which are a wonderful breed from the Lake District but which are known as escape artists! I’m learning as I go.’
The couple have aimed to become fully self-sustainable – like the characters in TV’s The Good Life.
Speaking about the contrast between the bustling capital and the country, James said: ‘Living in London, you don’t have community. You don’t get to know the things in life that people care about.’
He then went on to say that he and Alizee feel ‘so lucky to live in a small village with 100 people and two pubs’.
James breeds working spaniels and in 2020, he gave a black spaniel to the Princess of Wales shortly before her dog Lupo – who was also bred by James – died suddenly at nine years old.
They were joined by 50 guests at their wedding including the Prince and Princess of Wales and their three children at the Chateau Leoube, an exclusive vineyard in the village that produces some of France ‘s finest rose wine
He posted snaps of the house on Instagram at the time and wrote: ‘I think buying a house is up there with one of the most stressful experiences in my life’
He said that he and Alizee feel ‘so lucky to live in a small village with 100 people and two pubs’
The spaniel is named Orla and it seems a love of dogs runs in the family, as Princess Charlotte is besotted with her.
He says that he does not advertise the spaniels he breeds, but they rather go to people he knows ‘well enough to have a coffee with’.
He currently has four cocker spaniels, Zulu, Inka, Luna, and Nala, and one golden retriever named Mabel who had a litter of eight puppies last summer.
The couple decided to keep one of the adorable puppies and she shares a name with a royal – Isla, whose father is Peter Phillips, is Princess Anne’s granddaughter and the great-granddaughter of Queen Elizabeth.
After the death of her majesty in September last year, James named one of Mabel’s litter Bertie to honour the Queen, as her father, George VI, was known as ‘Bertie’ to his family and friends.
Princess Charlotte pictured with her beloved pet spaniel Orla as she celebrated turning seven with an adorable spring snap last May
He currently has four cocker spaniels, Zulu, Inka, Luna, and Nala, and one golden retriever named Mabel who had a litter of eight puppies last summer. Pictured: James and his dog Ella who passed away this year
He said: ‘The Queen dedicated her life to service and it’s with great pride that I can announce Bertie has been chosen to dedicate his life to service, too.’
James chose to give Bertie to Guide Dogs so he can be trained to help those suffering with sight loss.
Meanwhile, a royal source previously told the Daily Mail that James may ‘get the courtesy rank of viscount if his father Michael gets the expected earldom when Kate is crowned.’
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