James Middleton: Why Kate’s brother is making more headlines than the Princess of Wales

Kate Middleton, 42, was the typical popular girl at university: she was pretty and sporty, and also a smart student who always got good grades. Her sister Pippa, 41, followed in her footsteps. And then there was James, 37, the younger brother, who not only had to deal with dyslexia and attention deficit disorder that went undiagnosed during his studies at the Marlborough boarding school, but also had to endure being constantly compared to his perfect sisters. His A-level grades were so bad, his mother cried, and his father said that his expensive education had been “a waste of money.”

The brother of the Princess of Wales recounts this experience in his new book, Meet Ella: The Dog Who Saved My Life, which has been making headlines in the British and international press.

The title isn’t an exaggeration: it’s not a typical memoir, but rather the story of how James overcame depression. According to his book, it wasn’t thanks to family, friends or psychiatrists, but to Ella, a dog he adopted from a friend’s litter at the University of Edinburgh. “Mum and Dad found it difficult to talk to me about my mental health, because they felt they knew me better than I did. Their intentions were kind. They were hugely supportive. But they were resistant to therapy. And their biggest worry was that I would become dependent on anti-depressant drugs,” he admits in the memoir, which hits bookstores on September 26. “Dogs never judged me,” he says.

In 2017, when he was 30, James Middleton finally sought professional help for the mental health issues he had struggled with for most of his life. It was then that he was diagnosed with clinical depression and ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder). “My parents were uncomfortable with the fact that I had been labelled ‘clinically depressed,’” says Middleton. “To people of their generation, I can understand why it was concerning. Society was only just starting to break through the stigma. Catherine and Pippa understood, though.”

Still, it was Ella who went with James to his therapy sessions near London Bridge.

Ella — who passed away after a brief illness in 2023 — was also a pillar of support during his big moment at his sister’s wedding to Prince William on April 29, 2011. In one of the chapters, James reveals that during the ceremony, when he had to read an excerpt from the Bible in the imposing Westminster Abbey before the watchful eyes of hundreds of guests and members of international royalty, he was able to overcome his dyslexia problems thanks to the reassuring presence of his dog during rehearsals.

A fatefal night

Ahead of the book’s release, James Middleton — who founded a dog food and wellness company called James & Ella — has published several excerpts from the autobiography in the Daily Mail. One of them is titled The Night I Almost Took My Own Life - But My Beloved Spaniel Ella Stopped Me Taking the Fatal Leap. In the extract, he recounts how one night in November 2017, at 2 a.m., his depression was so severe that he felt life “was no longer worth living.” He couldn’t sleep or eat and just wanted to get away from it all, he says. “I feel misunderstood; a complete failure. I wouldn’t wish the sense of worthlessness and desperation, the isolation and loneliness, on my worst enemy. I think I’m going crazy,” he writes.

He goes on to describe how he opened a skylight to climb up onto the roof. In better times he had used this spot to watch the sun set over the London skyline or admire fireworks over the river, but this time his only purpose was to end his life.

“So I unhook the telescopic ladder, clamber up and propel myself onto the roof. I stand and look out at ­London. But I do not see its glory,” he begins. “I pace up and down, but there is no reprieve from the torment in my mind. Dark thoughts crowd in on me. What can I do to make them stop? I think about jumping from the rooftop. Who would find me? A passing taxi-driver? A neighbor? I wonder, if I jump, could it possibly be construed as a tragic accident? That way my family, although they would grieve desperately, would be spared the added torture of ­knowing that I had ended my life by suicide.”

Then he looked down and through the skylight he saw Ella’s “gentle eyes” looking at him, imploring him to come down. That is how he felt.

In that instant, he explains, he knew he wouldn’t jump. “I have loved her with every bit of my being since she was a tiny, sightless, newborn pup. She has been my companion, my hope, my support through my darkest days. She has loved me unconditionally, faithfully,” he writes.

“At night, when sleep eludes me, she is there on the bed beside me, willing me through the bleak pre-dawn hours. Even when I have felt that the labor of living is not worth the effort, I’ve taken her for walks and fed her. She gave me purpose, a reason to be. How could I contemplate leaving her now?”

He stepped away from the edge, climbed back down the stairs and strokes her head: “She is the reason I do not take that fatal leap. She is Ella, the dog who saved my life.”

The book alternates these kinds of raw confessions with other, gentler episodes, in which he shares humorous anecdotes about his wife, financial analyst Alizee Thevenet, his one-year-old son Inigo, his six dogs or and even his brother-in-law, Prince William.

“I remember putting him through his paces when we first met. Did he deserve my sister? He had to earn my trust,” he says in another excerpt shared with the Daily Mail titled The Moment I Knew William Was Right for Catherine.

“It helped of course that William was so genuinely fond of Ella. When he first encountered her as a tiny puppy at Bucklebury, he was smitten,” he continues. “I know, too, that Ella gave him a good excuse to escape the fiercely competitive nature of the Middleton family, which emerged every time we played our favorite fast-paced card game, Racing Demon. [...] When no longer compelled to take part, he’d slink off to cuddle Ella. Better still, he’d absent himself from the game entirely. ‘James, does Ella need a walk?’ he’d ask before we’d even started dealing the cards. My sisters and I would exchange a knowing glance: William, for all the competitive rigor of his military training, was happy to be a loser at cards.”

Ultimately, it wasn’t James who gave Prince William the thumbs-up — it was Ella.

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