Once Kate Middleton snagged the heart of Prince William, she and even her sister, Pippa, were
thrust into the spotlight. But there is another Middleton sibling that not too many know about:
brother James Middleton. Here's the untold truth of the Duchess of Cambridge's younger
brother.
From a young age, James Middleton has struggled with dyslexia, but he's never been shy about
it. In 2012, Kate Middleton's brother, who was officially diagnosed at age 11 after taking
a literacy test, helped raise awareness for the British Dyslexia Association. He also
told the Daily Mail,
"I was fine with numbers, but it took me a longer time to grasp simple things like spellings.
I used to spell everything phonetically, or I would have little tricks for words I could
not figure out."
He echoed the same sentiment in 2016, telling HK Magazine, quote, "I'm very proudly dyslexic."
Admitting that he was originally embarrassed by it, his perspective changed at age 17.
"I think of it as more of a superpower. Like if Harry Potter has his invisibility cloak,
I have ... dyslexia."
These days, Middleton is a proud entrepreneur who presumably has his parents' full support,
but that wasn't always the case. In fact, he's been known to break the occasional rule
and go against his parents' wishes ... like when he opted out of university. He told HK
Magazine in 2016,
"The biggest pressure I had from my family was to stay in university. I dropped out.
I feel there are parts where I missed out, but I gained many other brilliant experiences."
At the time, Middleton was studying environmental resources management at the University of
Edinburgh [ED-n-brah], but he only lasted a year. He told GQ,
"I knew that that mouthful of academic prescription was not going to do it for me. Like lots of
dyslexics, I am better at learning in a hands-on way and from my mistakes, not by being taught.
My friends and family said I should stay [at university]: they said, 'Don't give up.' But
I thought I wasn't dropping out but moving on, getting myself ready for the big wide
world."
Think constantly being asked about your celebrity siblings would eventually get to be a bit
much? Well, so does James Middleton. Middleton admitted to TYD magazine,
"Yes, it does get frustrating. I work incredibly hard — just like every other person in business
and work and aside from the fact that yes, I am the brother of someone very important,
I am, at the end of the day, just James."
And to him, his sisters will always be just Kate and Pippa. He told HK Magazine,
"I don't think of my sisters differently. They're still my sisters — sometimes really
annoying, sometimes I love them to bits. They're nothing other than my sisters. All the childhood
memories and future memories will never be different. They're just Pippa and Katherine
and will always only ever be Pippa and Katherine."
Even so, he knows he can't escape the media. Speaking with the Daily Mail in 2016, he pointed
out,
"It's probably going to be the story of my life. [But] I am James Middleton. I am very
proud to be 'the little brother of...' but, equally, they are proud that I am who I am."
As much as he loves his sisters, James Middleton has a real soft spot for his sisters' kids.
He told "Good Morning America" in 2014, following the birth of Prince William and Kate Middleton's
first son, Prince George:
"I just want to be the best uncle possible. Like any uncle wants to be, I want to be the
cool uncle. The fun uncle."
Being a doting uncle has also had some surprising side effects, namely a positive impact on
his business. Speaking with Hong Kong Tatler in 2016, Middleton admitted that his uncle
duties have helped his business ventures because
"[...] being an uncle, I've got to be more creative with my gifts rather than just coming
up with what I do at work. My family members are my guinea pigs ... I get the most honest
feedback from them."
Ask James Middleton if he considers himself to be an entrepreneur and you'll receive an
easy answer. He declared in an HK Magazine interview in 2016,
"I've definitely got the entrepreneurial spirit: unadulterated enthusiasm for what I do. I
wouldn't be doing anything else, despite sometimes working so hard — my longest shift was 42
hours, over Christmas. It's hard work but it's such fun, and I wouldn't change it for
the world."
After dropping out of university, Middleton founded The Cake Kit Company in September
2007, borrowing £11,000 from his uncle, taking out a traditional business bank loan, and
using his parents' successful party-planning biz, Party Pieces, to sell upscale DIY cake
kits.
Keeping on brand with his parents' party planning business and his former ventures, James Middleton
founded yet another gifting-related company in 2013, this time focusing on personalized
marshmallows. Called Boomf, the company lets you take any photos you like and print them
on edible square-shaped marshmallows, "mallowpops," and chocolates. It also offers handmade bunting,
confetti-filled birthday boxes, and more — all printed with the snaps of your choice.
Speaking with Hong Kong Tatler in 2016, three years after Boomf's founding, Middleton shared
his inspiration:
"Marshmallows are a very sociable type of confectionery. You can always spot them at
parties or special occasions."
Following up his 2007 project, The Cake Kit Company, Middleton founded Nice Group London,
an umbrella company encompassing subsidiaries Nice Cakes Ltd and Nice Wine Ltd. Unfortunately,
as the Daily Mail reported in February 2015, these businesses did not prove to be lucrative,
and Middleton ultimately decided to get rid of The Cake Kit Company, Nice Cakes, and Nice
Wine. According to the publication, Nice Group London declared a loss of earnings for a third
year in a row and the company only had £20 in its bank account.
Speaking with the outlet via email, Middleton clarified,
"The Cake Kit Company is still selling but only business to business. The companies I've
requested to be struck off have never traded."
Looking to the future, he added,
"My work focus at the moment is just on Boomf, which is proving to be a very exciting business."
Despite being thrust into the limelight following sister Kate Middleton's wedding and sister
Pippa Middleton's overnight fame, James Middleton managed to keep a large part of his life private
over the years. But all of that changed when, seemingly out of the blue, he chose to make
his Instagram account public at the start of January 2019. Numerous media outlets noticed
and began reporting on the change, driving his number of followers way up to 130,000
by the end of the month. Unfortunately for royal buffs, neither Kate nor her husband,
Prince William, have made any appearances at the time of this video.
That being said, there are plenty of snaps of James taking part in countless sports and
outdoor activities, playing with cute dogs, and traveling around the world. Plus, there's
also the occasional ad for his marshmallow business.
"Surprise them this Valentine's day with personalized cards that are bursting with fun."
Even the quickest visit to James Middleton's Instagram reveals that, while he may love
many things, his dogs are his life. Scroll through his account and you'll find endless
adorable photos of him posing with pups of various breeds and ages. In September 2017,
he shared a snap of himself in a field, surrounded by nine dogs, which he dubbed, quote, "the
ever growing pack." It seems he does everything with them, from feeding them milk from a bottle
to swimming and letting them ride shotgun in his car.
In December 2018, he even celebrated his dog Ella becoming a pet therapy dog. Sharing a
snap of her in her blue and yellow vest, he wrote,
"Animals can provide a sense of calm, comfort, or safety and divert attention away from a
stressful situation and toward one that provides pleasure."
He noted,
"I am a huge believer in this and Ella has done so much for me and we look forward to
sharing the love."
In January 2019, James Middleton made the decision to pen an op-ed piece for the Daily
Mail in which he wrote candidly about his mental health struggles. Admitting to being
diagnosed with attention deficit disorder in 2018, Kate Middleton's brother remembered
how, for years, he'd struggled to sleep. He wrote,
"A cacophony of imaginary noises rang in my head. It felt as if ten different radio stations
were competing for airtime and the din was ceaseless and wearying."
He described feeling unable to communicate and feeling "despair," explaining,
"All colour and emotion had leached out of my world and everything was grey and monotone."
Turns out Middleton had been suffering from clinical depression since late 2016, as well
as ADD, which he only learned after seeking professional help.
So why did he come forward with his story? Because of his family. He stated,
"I feel compelled to talk about it openly because this is precisely what my brother-in-law
Prince William, my sister Catherine and Prince Harry are advocating through their mental
health charity Heads Together."
Finding a partner who loves pooches just as much as he does must have been tough for James
Middleton. However, as he revealed in a piece for The Telegraph, it was actually one of
his trusted pets who brought the woman of his dreams into his life. The businessman
met financier Alizée Thevenet in 2018, after his spaniel, Ella, "made a beeline" for her
at a swanky club in Chelsea. Admitting to being "embarrassed," Middleton immediately
ran over to apologize.
"But Alizée thought I was the waiter and ordered her drink while continuing to stroke
Ella, who at this point was on her back lapping up the attention."
They totally hit it off from there, and the couple hasn't looked back since. Middleton
even credits Ella with setting them up, noting he trusts the dog's natural instincts above
all else.
James Middleton and Alizée Thevenet finally managed to tie the knot in her native France
in September 2021.
He took to Instagram to share the happy news, gushing alongside a selfie of the couple,
"I married the love of my life surrounded by family, friends and of course a few dogs
in the beautiful village [of] Bormes-les-Mimosas. Words cannot describe how happy I am."
Hello! magazine noted the wedding took place almost exactly two years after Middleton proposed.
The couple had been dating for about a year.
Their wedding was initially set for May 2020 but was postponed twice in light of the pandemic.
Page Six confirmed Prince William and his wife, Kate Middleton, were there to celebrate
the momentous occasion alongside their three kids. Pippa Middleton was also in attendance,
alongside husband James Matthews and their own children. The event was reportedly an
intimate affair, with the location chosen because it's where Thevenet's father still
resides.
He might have had a difficult road to business success, but James Middleton is finally soaring
high off the back of his marshmallow and party supplies company, Boomf. According to the
Daily Mail, in August 2021, Boomf officially surpassed its first £1 million in profits.
Middleton reported earnings of an incredible £1,107,222, according to accounts filed for
2020. This is despite the fact that, since Boomf began trading in 2013, the company's
ongoing losses were an estimated £1.9 million. As well as expanding the profits, Middleton
also hired additional staff members, meaning there are now 29 people employed in Boomf's
Reading office.
Elsewhere, he launched a luxury, sustainable dog food company named Ella & Co after his
beloved spaniel.
Siblings bond over many different things. In the case of James Middleton and elder sister
Kate Middleton, the Duchess of Cambridge, they share a passion for bees. As People reported,
in June 2021, Kate met with schoolchildren at London's Natural History Museum. She brought
some homemade honey from her country home in Norfolk, telling the kids excitedly,
"This came specially from my beehive."
James, meanwhile, frequently shares his love of beekeeping with his Instagram followers,
noting in 2019,
"Many of you know I am passionate about dogs, but not many know I am almost as passionate
about bees."
His wife clearly shares the same passion since she posted a sweet shot of the couple in their
beekeeping attire captioned, quote, "Bee my honey."
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