On New Year’s Day, James Middleton got on his Instagram account and reflected on his 2023. He revealed, in that post, that he had spent much of 2023 writing his memoir. It was clearly an effort to “sell” the book, and someone took the bait. Now the Princess of Wales’s younger brother is cashing in on his royal relations with his very own book deal, at least that’s how the Daily Mail should frame this story if they had any integrity! Instead, James announced his book deal exclusively to Tatler, and he explained the project: it’s basically about his dog Ella, who died last year.
James Middleton, the younger brother of the Princess of Wales, has announced he has written a memoir in an exclusive interview with Tatler. The father-of-one will be releasing the tender, warm-hearted and sometimes devastating book, Meet Ella: The Dog Who Saved My Life, on 26 September 2024.
Speaking to Tatler, James revealed the book documents his relationship with Ella, a cocker spaniel whom he adopted at the age of 20, and the extraordinary journey the two went on for 15 years before her death last year. He offers insights into an extraordinary period of his life with his pet, from trips with Ella up Scottish mountainsides, to royal weddings and his first meeting with his wife Alizee.
James, who welcomed his first child, Inigo, with Alizee last year, told Tatler that he was hugely inspired to write the book to honour their family. He explained, ‘Writing this book has helped [me deal with the grief I have after Ella’s passing] by enabling me to process the journey that Ella and I went on. Ella was there at so many of the important moments of my life, including when I met Alizee. Our son was born after Ella passed away so Inigo never got to meet her, but it’s important to me that he knows all about her. Another of the reasons that I wanted to write this book was so that I could tell Inigo the story of how I met his mother.’
Meanwhile he also shared how important Ella had been when it came to his mental health journey. He explained, ‘We’re often given the advice that it’s good to talk, but I know firsthand how difficult that can be when you’re struggling with something like clinical depression. My therapist suggested talking out loud to Ella as a first step, and through that I realised how powerful it can be to put things into words. It gave me the confidence to talk to others, and that was transformative. I hope that by writing this book, I might help other people to talk about their mental health – whether their difficulties are in the past, or something they’re experiencing currently.’
Elsewhere he also shared how important his pet became to him during a turbulent few years of his life. He said, ‘Ella was so much more than just a dog – she was part of me, a true companion, my closest confidante, and very often my therapist. My life would not have been the same without her and I wanted to commemorate her and the way that she helped me reconnect with the world at a time when I felt lost.’
I’m trying to strike a balance between acknowledging that it’s perfectly healthy/normal to grieve your beloved pet, and acknowledging that James really loved Ella AND finding this whole exercise rather maudlin? I get using the dog as a framing device to tell James’s story, but I think that’s what is bugging me so much – James has pissed away other people’s money for more than a decade, he’s a terrible businessman who used to make Nazi marshmallows and his finances are even shadier than his parents. It feels like a sugar-coated whitewash. But I guess he has to pay for his £1.45 million Bucklebury farmhouse somehow.
In a Tatler exclusive, James Middleton announces his memoir – and reveals his motivation behind writing the warm-hearted and sometimes devastating book https://t.co/DNO9cqYkR1 pic.twitter.com/NqiWtZinoj
— Tatler (@Tatlermagazine) March 8, 2024
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, James’s Instagram, Backgrid.