James Middleton, the youthful brother of Princess Kate, could also be linked to one of many world’s most well-known households, however on a wet summer season afternoon in Bucklebury, Berkshire, his consideration is concentrated on a distinct brood: his six vigorous canine.
These pups maintain a particular place in his coronary heart, all descendants of his first two beloved pets — the Middleton household canine, Tilly, and his cherished cocker spaniel, Ella, who died in 2023. Ella’s legacy lives on in Middleton’s emotional and candid new memoir, Meet Ella: The Dog Who Saved My Life, out within the U.S. on Sept. 24. (Read PEOPLE’s exclusive excerpt here.)
In it Middleton, 37, shares how Ella helped him via his darkest struggles with despair, together with a 2017 evening when he nearly succumbed to his suicidal ideas. Ella was by his aspect via many pivotal life moments, from his sister’s royal wedding ceremony to Prince William in 2011 and Christmases with the late Queen Elizabeth, to even taking part in matchmaker, main him to his spouse, Alizee Thevenet, 35, a French monetary expertise skilled. The couple’s son, Inigo, born simply months after Ella’s dying, turns one in October.
“It took me on a journey,” Middleton tells PEOPLE of writing his ebook on this week’s situation of PEOPLE. “I hope that my son is ready to find out about his personal psychological well being approach earlier than I did in order that he does not need to undergo a few of the very painful moments that I went via.”
Recognized with scientific despair, ADD and dyslexia, Middleton now pours his power into James & Ella, his firm devoted to producing moral pet food and advocating for the supportive position canine play in difficult occasions. Middleton’s personal struggles are profound, and through a harrowing evening in November 2017 when he thought of leaping off the roof of his London condo constructing, Ella was his beacon of hope, pulling him again from the brink.
His mother and father, Carole and Michael, and sisters, Kate, 42, and Pippa Middleton, 41, have been quickly by his aspect.
“We converse extra brazenly now about our personal psychological well being as a household. That could be a good thing,” he says.
Reflecting on his household’s response to his ebook’s revelations, he shares, “The embrace of a hug from a member of the family means greater than phrases. We’re a detailed household, nevertheless it’s introduced us collectively. I do know they’re happy with me for telling my story.”
Middleton first entered the worldwide highlight throughout Kate and William’s 2011 royal wedding ceremony, when, like his sister Pippa, he was thrust into the general public eye. Regardless of his dyslexia, he honored their request to learn on the Westminster Abbey ceremony. To organize, he labored with voice coach Anthony Gordon Lennox forward of the massive day (with Ella by his aspect).
“I grew to become very obsessed with doing it and cherished a number of the excursions that Ella, myself and Anthony went on to discover ways to learn it,” he remembers.
Middleton calls the marriage, which was watched by tens of thousands and thousands around the globe, an “out of physique expertise.”
“It was as if it was a royal wedding ceremony that I wasn’t at,” he says. “It simply felt like a household wedding ceremony.”
Though his brother-in-law is the longer term king, William is absolutely built-in into the Middleton household.
“William has been improbable in providing recommendation and assist and giving his two cents on the perfect method to issues,” he says.
Of his sister Kate, he provides, “My love and respect for my sister is large. I assist her and the whole lot that she’s doing. I acknowledge that there is curiosity in my life due to who she is, and it took time to regulate. However I am happy with who I’m. It simply so occurs that my sister is who she is.”
The Princess of Wales has been confronting her personal battle with an undisclosed type of most cancers. On Sept. 9 she shared that she has completed chemotherapy and is taking “every day because it comes.” When she announced her diagnosis in March, Middleton publicly confirmed his assist on Instagram, writing, “Over time, we have now climbed many mountains collectively. As a household, we are going to climb this one with you too.”
Reflecting on the state of affairs in a park close to their childhood house, he says, “There are large numbers of people that undergo [cancer]. It does not matter who you’re, what your upbringing is. Life throws you obstacles.”
He provides, “We’re a detailed household. It’s at all times vital to have assist round you and never do issues alone. Sharing it does assist convey folks collectively. My love and assist for my household is extra than simply an Instagram put up.”
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For Middleton, his steadfast “rock” is his spouse, Alizee, whom he met by probability in a Chelsea bar, because of Ella wandering over to her desk. The couple tied the knot in an intimate ceremony attended by their closest family and friends within the South of France in 2021. Fatherhood adopted quickly after Ella’s dying. He’s “completely sure” Ella (who’s the mom of Kate and Prince William’s first canine Lupo) sensed Alizee was pregnant. “And that, by way of timing, was the time to slide off,” Middleton tells PEOPLE.
“One final reward that Ella gave me was leaving at a time once I was able to let her go in a approach,” he provides. “If it wasn’t for her, I would not be right here at this time. I am so grateful for that.”