Princess Kate has had some quite stressful – but wonderful – first 14 years as a member of the royal family. Since her and Prince William’s wedding in 2011, the Princess of Wales has become one of the most popular royals. The couple have also welcomed three children; Prince George, Princess Charlotte, and Prince Louis.
Kate has had great support from her family, and the children often visit their grandmother and grandfather, Michael and Carole Middleton, in Berkshire. At the same time, the Middletons have had their hands full with six grandchildren – including William and Kate’s three and her sister, Pippa’s three children – running around. Soon, there will be even more baby steps in the house.
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Just days ago, Kate and the rest of her family got some fantastic baby news. This time, it’s her brother, James Middleton, who’s become a father for the first time.
Kate Middleton and her family have been business-oriented from the start. When the now-princess celebrated her fifth birthday, her parents decided to establish their company, Party Piece, as they realized there was a gap in the market for elegant tablescapes, Vanity Fair Reports.
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“Party Pieces was literally born at our kitchen table, so I suppose the ‘big break’ moment came when I realized there were lots of other parents looking for more affordable and imaginative partyware and that I had correctly identified a gap in the market for quality products that added something special,” Carole told SheerLuxe.
“It was so exciting knowing I had a business idea that could work.”
James Middleton – growing up with older sister Kate
Carole further revealed that it had been a family company from the start – and that even Kate had played her part in its success.
“Pippa wrote our ‘Party Times’ blog, James did the cakes when he first left school and Catherine developed our first birthday and baby category,” she said.
“My husband and I were young and a little inexperienced, but very enthusiastic, so we didn’t worry too much.”
Nowadays, Carole and Michael are going through a more challenging period. Party Pieces has gone bust, with creditors claiming it owes around $3.3 million in debt, and they sold it to entrepreneur James Sinclair.
During Kate and her siblings’ upbringings, however, the business was a financial success. As a result, it isn’t strange that they decided to give their children the best possible education by sending them to boarding school.
Like his sister, James Middleton attended Marlborough College. There, we find a tie to the royal family, as one very famous alumni is Princess Eugenie.
He then went on to study at the University of Edinburgh. However, after only one year, he decided to drop out.
He felt that school wasn’t for him.
“I knew that that mouthful of academic prescription was not going to do it for me,” he told GQ. “My dream, which came to me when I was flying back up to Edinburgh after a weekend home, was to build a cake empire.”
James did everything to protect Kate
Like his mother and father, James would enter the “party business.” He founded the Cake Kit Company, which provided customers with DIY kits for festive party cakes.
Meanwhile, his sister, Kate Middleton, had begun dating Prince William. As a protective brother, he did everything he could not to let the media scrutiny against Kate affect her.
“I used to be first up in the morning to make sure I could get to the papers and rip out any stories about my sister so nobody would see them, and there would be no conversations about them,” James, the youngest Middleton sibling, told the Daily Mail in 2016.
Meanwhile, he understood his life would change as his sister became a royal.
“It’s always been, whether at school or now, that I am Pippa and Catherine’s little brother. 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,” he said, explaining how his life has changed because of his having older sisters.
“There were other implications of having older sisters, too: constant mothering. ‘I have always joked that I have three mothers,’ he says of the closeness between them all. ‘I couldn’t get away with anything as a kid. Whether I got a bad mark at prep school or was told off by somebody, it would always end up getting back to my parents,’” James Middleton said.
James Middleton struggled with depression
James moved on to start a greeting card company. Just a year ago, he had to sell it. Now, James has begun a new journey with a new company. But most importantly, he has found the love of his life – and become a father.
But before we go into that, let’s see how his life has changed because of what his sister, Kate, is doing for work.
Princess Kate’s life changed forever as she married Prince William in 2011. She is now a royal, with a whole different life compared to her siblings. When she and William married in Westminster Abbey in 2011, James and the rest of the Middletons were, of course, present.
While his sister Kate Middleton traveled all over the country, being treated as the princess she is, James Middleton went through a very tough period in the mid-2010s. Still, even though Kate had her own family and duties to attend to, she would never leave her brother or stop supporting him.
Speaking with The Telegraph, James Middleton revealed how he has had a long personal battle with depression. For a long time, he kept it to himself. However, when visiting a private psychiatric hospital, he voiced the fact that he was dealing with suicidal thoughts.
“I remember thinking, ‘I might have to answer this one truthfully, because I want them to help me,’” he explained of confronting the doctor’s questions about suicidal ideation. “So I said, ‘Well, actually, yes, but I don’t think I’ll ever action it.’ In my report it said I had suicidal thoughts but wasn’t a threat to myself.”
Kate attended family therapy to support her brother
James became honest with himself and got help. He met a therapist and decided to include his family. They all, including Kate, joined him for family therapy sessions.
“Not necessarily [the entire family] at the same time, but either individually and [sometimes] together,” he told The Telegraph. “And that was so important because that helped them understand me and how my mind was working. And I think the way the therapy helped me was that I didn’t need my family to say, ‘What can we do?’ The only thing they could do was just come to some of the therapy sessions to start to understand.”
For a time, James Middleton was in a relationship with a woman named Donna Air. However, in 2018, his life would change forever as he met the love of his life.
While out with his now-late dog, Ella, Middleton met Alizee Thevenet. It was in the summer of 2018, and since then, the two have been inseparable. They have welcomed many pets into their lives – one even became a royal pet.
Faith brought them together, and the story of how is incredible.
“The two of us were at the South Kensington Club in Chelsea,” Middleton told The Telegraph. “Ella was lying at my feet under the table; realising she might want some water, I trusted her to take herself to the water bowl across the terrace. However, she made a beeline for Alizee. Rather embarrassed, I went over to apologize and bring Ella back.”
James Middleton – love story with Alizee Thevenet
At first, however, Thevenet thought James Middleton wasn’t at the country club as a guest. She thought he was a server and ordered a drink while petting the dog.
“Little did I know, I had just met my future wife, all thanks to Ella,” James added. “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.”
It didn’t take long before James and Alizee fell in love. Later the same year, James posted a picture of the two wearing matching red sweaters, enjoying a boat ride together.
“Sail away with me,” he captioned the photo.
In the fall, James Middleton asked Alizee Thevenet to marry him, presenting her with a sapphire engagement ring. As reported by People, it was an emerald-cut sapphire ring in Art Deco style, very much resembling Princess Kate’s legendary sapphire and diamond ring, which originally was owned and worn by Princess Diana.
“She said OUI,” James Middleton wrote on Instagram, announcing their engagement. “Our secret is out, but we couldn’t be happier to share the news.”
James and Alizee were so excited to get married. However, the outbreak of Covid-19 forced them to postpone their plans. Finally, on 11 September 2021 in Bormes-les-Mimosas, the couple tied the knot. Alizee wore Kate Middleton’s mother’s gorgeous wedding dress for the beautiful occasion.
“While talking about dresses with Carole and sharing ideas during lockdown for inspiration, I tried on her wedding dress and fell in love with it,” Alize said, as per Hello Magazine.
James Middleton gave Prince George and siblings a dog
“It fitted me perfectly and was exactly what I wanted. It always troubled me that wedding dresses are only worn once so it was amazing to give such a beautiful dress a second lease of life,” she added.
The grand wedding in the town hall, of course, had royals attending. Kate Middleton and Prince William, along with their children Prince George, Princess Charlotte, and Prince Louis, were there. Moreover, his sister, Pippa Middleton, and James Matthews, along with their children Arthur and Grace, were also in attendance.
As mentioned, James Middleton’s dog, Ella, was the one who first helped him get introduced to his beloved now-wife. She’d previously had puppies, and one of them, Lupo, became a dear family member of Kate, William and their three children.
Sadly, Lupo died in 2020. However, James gave George, Charlotte, and Louis a black working cocker named Orla.
“I’m really pleased that they are able to enjoy and have the benefit of a dog in their lives. I see them being lucky that they have a dog in their life,” James Middleton told OK! Magazine.
In January, James and their family gathered to say their final goodbyes to Ella as she passed away.
“Burying her; that was the worst. It took me four hours because I knew once I had finished digging, that would be the final farewell,” he wrote in the Times.
“All the family came to say their goodbyes. I can’t speak for them, but I believe she influenced their lives too. Lupo, Catherine and William’s dog, was one of Ella’s puppies. My sister Pippa and her husband have a pup from Ella, as do other family members.
Kate’s baby joy – James Middleton has become a father
James and his sister, Princess Kate, have always been close. And now, he and his family are celebrating a new addition to the family. This time, it’s not a dog – but a baby.
As per the Mirror, James and Alizee have been seen walking around London with a stroller, having the best time with their beloved baby boy. No details about the baby’s name have been revealed. But we are sure that Kate is tremendously happy for her brother. Meanwhile, Prince George, Princess Charlotte, and Prince Louis have just gotten themselves a new cousin.
In July, James Middleton revealed that he and his wife were expecting.
“We couldn’t be more excited… Well, Mable might be,” the brother of the future queen wrote on social media, referring to one of their pet dogs.
A week ago, James shared the birth of their child.
She has been in our lives for just a few weeks, but they have been the most special of my life getting to know our beautiful baby boy. No matter how prepared I thought I was…I was not prepared for the overwhelming emotion of meeting Inigo for the first time and the love for my darling Alizée as we became three,” Middleton wrote.
“We have settled into our new life as parents, and I’ve told him all about Ella and that if it wasn’t for her he wouldn’t be here today and that we miss her greatly. The dogs have been fantastic at welcoming their little brother into the pack (although Inka needs to know the teddybears are not all for her…)”
