James Middleton

James William Middleton was born on 15 April 1987 at the Royal Berkshire Hospital in Reading,[1] the youngest child and only son of Michael Middleton (born 1949), a former British Airways flight dispatcher,[4] and Carole Middleton (born 1955), a former flight attendant.[5][6][7] His father came from a line of solicitors who resided in Leeds, West Yorkshire. His great-grandmother Olive Middleton was a member of the Lupton family, who were landed gentry.[8][9] His mother's family were labourers and miners from County Durham.[7][10][11] Shortly before his birth, Middleton's parents founded Party Pieces, a mail-order party supply company.[12] His elder sisters are Catherine (born 1982) and Philippa (born 1983).[13] The family resided in Bradfield Southend, Berkshire, before moving to the nearby village of Bucklebury in 1995.[14][15][16] Middleton was educated at St Andrew's School, Pangbourne, and Marlborough College.[17][18] In 2006, he attended the University of Edinburgh, studying environmental resources management before dropping out a year later.[19][20]

Middleton's cake-making business, which is now defunct, was inspired by reading that a mother's baking is a highly evocative childhood memory.[19] He supplied baking kits so home bakers would be able to get all the ingredients in one place for adventurous creations such as "football cakes".[19] He started baking in the family kitchen and expanded into a freight container and converted barns.[19] Themed birthday cake baking kits were distributed by his parents' company, Party Pieces.[19][21]

Themed cakes were later provided for companies such as Jigsaw, 3 and Ralph Lauren.[19] Middleton caused "shudders" at Buckingham Palace after taking part in a Hello magazine photoshoot for which he was commissioned to bake 21 cakes commemorating its 21st birthday, each iced with one of the magazine's front covers – amongst them, several members of the royal family, including Diana, Princess of Wales.[22] The business won Smarta 100 and Haines Watts Young Entrepreneur awards.[23] In April 2011, he registered three businesses: Nice Cakes, Nice Wine, and Nice Group London and planned to expand the Cake Kit Company.[19][22] The Cake Kit Company was dissolved in 2015.[24]

In 2013, Middleton founded Boomf, a company that makes personalised marshmallows and greeting cards.[25][26] In 2015, the company raised funds at a valuation of £10m.[27] Boomf made a loss of £3 million between 2015 and 2018.[28] Middleton's brother-in-law, hedge fund manager James Matthews paid Middleton €110,000 for 12,800 Boomf shares.[29] In 2019, Middleton announced that the company had reached profitability with an income of £176,000 in the previous year.[30] Boomf raised $1m of funding in 2021,[31] but by December 2021 the company had fallen into administration owing £800,000 to creditors, including £146,306 to HM Revenue and Customs.[32][33]

In May 2020, Middleton launched Ella & Co, a mail order dog food company that offers freeze-dried, raw, organic dog food.[34]

Middleton has hosted deer stalking parties at Glen Affric Estate, owned by the family of Philippa's husband[35][36]

Middleton is dyslexic.[37] Middleton read from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible at the 2011 wedding of his sister Catherine to Prince William.[38] In 2019, he disclosed his struggles with depression and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, which he attributed to public scrutiny from age 23 as a result of his eldest sister's relationship.[39][40] He sought treatment in 2017, undertaking cognitive behavioral therapy.[40][41] Middleton also spent "restorative time" at the Glen Affric Estate where he has hosted deer stalking parties. The estate is owned by his sister Philippa's father-in-law.[40][35][36] In the same year, he penned a column in the Daily Mail about mental health.[42][43]

Middleton is an ambassador for the Pets As Therapy charity and has credited his dog, Ella, for helping him through his depression.[44][41] He breeds dogs, owning six, as well as one rescue lamb.[45][46][47] Middleton also keeps bees on the grounds of Bucklebury Manor.[48][49] In April 2020, he founded the Paw Print Fund in aid of animal welfare charities.[46]

Middleton was in a relationship with actress Donna Air from 2013 to 2018.[50] Middleton met French financial analyst Alizée Thevenet (dob 30/11/1989) in 2018 and announced their engagement in September 2019.[51][52] They planned to wed in summer 2020 but postponed the event twice due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[53] The couple married on 11 September 2021, in Bormes-les-Mimosas, France; his wife wore the 1980s wedding dress belonging to Carole Middleton, her mother-in-law.[54][55] In July 2023, the couple announced they were expecting their first child.[56]

• Middleton, James (28 January 2023). "Farewell Ella, the dog who saved my life". The Times.

• James Middleton at IMDb
• James Middleton on Instagram