James Middleton was relatively quiet in 2023. He was around, he went to the coronation, he got photographed a few times, but mostly he avoided controversy. He and his wife welcomed their first child and James’s latest business – dog food – is in debt, but it’s not as chaotic or stupid as his failed marshmallow business (Boomf). James mostly avoided the fallout from his parents’ business collapsing under a mountain of debt and accusations of fraud as well. So what was James up to in 2023? Apparently, he was writing a book??? He said as much in his New Year’s post on Instagram:
I’m so grateful to all of you for support this year. I share many of my journeys – ups and downs – with you. As it’s been such a reflective year I have been putting pen to paper which has been the most wonderful experience…so maybe a 📖 next year???
The year started with the unbearable sadness of losing Ella. Despite knowing her time was coming, it has taken me a while to come to terms with her no longer being by my side. I know many of you who have also lost a dog, will understand the grief that follows you.
Later in the year, my wife Alizee and I had the absolute delight of welcoming our first child Inigo into the world. Inigo has already found his place amongst the pack, giggling every time one of the dogs comes over to nestle up beside us.
A month later and I launched a new James & Ella range into Waitrose – and one of the last photos taken of me and Ella now appears on the shelves across stores nationwide. It was a very proud moment taking Inigo to our local store to see the product on the shelves for the fist time
I’m going into 2024 and promise to continue to focus on my mission… To make all dogs lives as happy and healthy as they have made mine.
Happy New year to you all,
With love, James, Alizee, Inigo, Zulu, Mabel, Inka, Luna, Nala & Isla
Is he hunting for a publishing deal or something? I would imagine someone would pay him for a book, and it’s weird that he doesn’t already have a contract. Considering how much money he’s grifted from “investors” for his failed businesses, maybe he’s just biding his time until he gets the right offer. Something where he wouldn’t have spill all about his family, but he would still give *some* information. Hm. It’s very strange though – you would think that if one of the Middletons really were on the verge of getting a book deal, the palace would intervene and threats would be made.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Instagram.
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- Pippa and James Middleton arriving at Westminster Abbey, central London, ahead of the coronation ceremony of King Charles III and Queen Camilla.,Image: 774175134, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: -, Model Release: no, Credit line: Andrew Milligan / Avalon
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- Pippa Middleton and James Middleton at the Coronation of King Charles III at Westminster Abbey in London, United Kingdom, on 06 May 2023.,Image: 774203465, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: *** NO UK USE FOR 48 HRS ***, Model Release: no, Credit line: James Veysey/Shutterstock / Avalon
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- Pippa Middleton and James Middleton at the Coronation of King Charles III at Westminster Abbey in London, United Kingdom, on 06 May 2023.,Image: 774203484, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: James Veysey/Shutterstock / Avalon
Save the trees. Pass.
No publisher will touch Jimmy unless he spills fresh tea on the Windsors. And the Firm will block any efforts.
Like all of his business ventures, we have to ask, “who is the audience for this?”
Oh Lordy. Why couldn’t he go get an actual job instead of pretending to be an entrepreneur? I have two dogs myself and love them-but the idea that your actual human child is just part of your dog pack makes me roll my eyes back into my head.
Actually, because James mentions Ella the dog more often than his wife and child, my guess is that his book focuses on his dog or is somehow canine related.
He’s mentioned before that his anxiety and depression prevent him from having a regular job hence why he’s become an entrepreneur.
Wait, what? Millions of people battle depression & anxiety and still have jobs. This is a BS excuse. He’s an enterpreneur because he wants cash fast, and because he grew up around his parents’ grifting.
Not everyone is cut out to be an enterpreneur, sometimes a solid and reliable 9-5 does wonder for one’s mental health.
Uh. There’s nothing more anxiety producing than being an actual entrepreneur. It’s ALL on you. Plus millions of people all over the world with depression and anxiety (family and friends included) are able to hold down 9-5s. Eye roll.
Marycontrary, yes! One of the most anxiety inducing lifestyles is that of an entrepreneur.
@Cee Right? That’s like saying that because you have a mood disorder like depression or anxiety, you need to be a racecar driver or a fashion designer or an astronaut…It doesn’t work that way. Sometimes a regular routine can be the best thing for a mood disorder, especially since I’m sure he could WFH whenever he wants and have flexibility when he may need it. And isn’t Alizee in finance, comes from a rich French family etc? So she can do the “regular job” thing while James can be a good father and love his dogs and support the entire family in his own way…but that’s not good enough…
tl;dr like all the Middletons he is terminally basic but wants to be praised and adored by everyone when he turns out a nice poo in the toilet and calls it “entrepreneurship” or “piano recital” or “photography” or “lifestyle business.” It’s exhausting
Not interested in the nazi marshmallow makers life. Love dogs but him noooooo.
It was one of those Middleton stories that quickly disappeared, but his company made custom marshmallows (so I guess you could send in a picture of your child maybe?) anyway, one of the orders that went through was someone who wanted Nazi imagery….I think it was the flag? On the marshmallows and they were made and then I think someone flagged them and the story came out and then was very quickly hushed up.
No one thinks he was the one actually making the marshmallows, but it was his company so 🤷♀️
His old company made marshmallows that you could get different things printed on and one customer requested something nazi-related and word got out. It wasn’t his company choosing to make them but i guess they didn’t pay much attention to the images being uploaded and printed.
It seems like he is more into his dogs than his kid. Just a feeling I get.
I am wondering why he has now goldens. All his former dogs were black – cocker spaniels? I mean, did he just switch them?
No, he’s had at least one golden for a few years now.
He’s delusional
Maybe the palace did intervene and maybe threats were made, which is why we see the ???. Not major threats, but maybe “we want to vet this thing before anything goes out.” We wouldn’t know unless there was some reason for the palace to make it public.
The guy has to make a living.
Lots of options to make an honest living but James has always been about trying to coast along dabbling in this and that because he’s so “special.” He loved to give interviews when his business(es) failed about how he’s the idea guy and he just hasn’t found the right people to execute his beautiful dreams and visions….sigh. Everyone has worked with idiots like this who think they are so brilliant and that the actual hard work is for the little people. I can’t imagine how tiresome he is in person
@Lady Esther – this all day long. Not to mention the pretentious name he gave his son which is just more of the “I’m just so twee and special” nonsense…
He’s made his money the old fashioned way – he’s married a wealthy woman who is able to support their lifestyle single handed.
Hopefully she either genuinely loves him (and since she can afford his financial ineptitude, I think he might be a fairly good husband – he seems to be a relatively decent person just useless with money) or she thinks having her children be first cousins to a King is worth paying for.
Who is Zulu, one of his dogs? These people…
For a guy who had Nazi emblems printed on his food products, you would think he would stay away from things like naming a black dog Zulu.
The overwhelming sense I get with James in the Middleton family dynamic is neglect.
Kate seems to have been the ‘golden’ child and in such families there is always a scapegoat as antidote and James has always displayed characteristically ‘scapegoat’ behaviour and traits.
Also to the commenter who mentioned him being closer to the Dog’s I agree, I wonder if they’re his emotional support animals ?
A spare?
@Kristen from MA – nah I think James is the black sheep and Pippa is the ‘spare’.
James just has always struck me as being very unhappy. We also know via Kate’s previous articles in the DM that he’s struggled with MH and specifically depression. But I feel like there is more to the story hence why he hasn’t really ever held down a job.
I too have the same impression that the dogs are his emotional support, and he seems to cling to them so hard. Even when Alizee and the baby are around. I know it’s just some photos and I’m super judgemental about the Midds, but Alizee never looks particularly happy. Same in these recent photos. Neither does James actually. The dogs situated between them in every photo is so telling. I hope it’s not Carole who keeps pushing him to the entrepreneur life. It’s clearly not for him and that shouldn’t be a problem.
Alizee will pull the plug when she is tired of raising a grown man – baby. Only question is when.
I’ve never understood the Middleton’s obsession with trying to have lifestyle “businesses,” from Carole to Pippa to James. They’re too downmarket for aristos and too snobby for plebs. I just don’t get whom they think is the audience/market?
It’s easy money and influencing lite without being influencers.
Isn’t India Hicks in the same line of business and at one point was making a killing doing so?
I’m just here for Pippa’s hat, sponsored by Pringles Potato Crisps.
Thanks Dee, now I want Pringles. LOL
Me too, lol
After Pippa’s failure of a book i doubt anyone would want to touch it. And James has nowhere near the profile Pippa did at the time she published hers.
I do not understand how so many people reach mid 30’s and have no actual job.
As a working class person earning under $50K my entire life, I have no sympathy.
Kate, as unpopular as she can be, certainly seems to be the family breadwinner.
She bagged William, birthed the big 3 and her parent, siblings have all reaped the upward mobility/biz opportunities.
Pippa bagged a billionaire. A man she never would have even socially met before her sister bc FQ.
Carole M. has out done PMK.
I don’t want to defend PMK, but her children have their own money and are not dependent on the money from their spouse. Kate and Pippa could easily be divorced within a few years and not much money to their name.
Yep. Kris Jenner secured deals for her kids. She didn’t marry them off to men/women with money. She worked to get her kids their own bag independent of a man. That way, they don’t have to stay in abusive relationships for financial security.
She’s a better mother than Carole. Much better.
Are they in church with those dogs?
I just noticed that. I’m going to guess it was a blessing of the animals thing.
I was thinking their kid’s christening. James is just weirdo enough to want their dogs there.
Was he always this obsessed with dogs or just when he decided to sell dog food?
He’s been obsessed with his dogs for…..well years at this point. I think he had another dog food company a few years ago that failed, or maybe its this same one? he used to ride around London with one or two dogs in his bicycle basket.
If it is the christening why oh why did he dress like a seafaring bloke? So weird. And I’ve been to blessings of animals; they are very wisely held outside.
He looks like the ghost from an old television show, “The ghost and Mrs. Muir”
A book about WHAT? Unless he’s talking about the Windsors no one cares.
Please, the palace doesn’t need to worry. This man is seriously going to write a whole-ass book about his dogs. Maaaybe, they’ll let him sprinkle in a few anecdotes about the wales kids playing with his dogs. But the book is going to be a memoir about him and his dogs, some sort of Marley and me-type deal. He wants to be the new James Herriot😂
This was my thought as well. Maybe a book about dogs and how they have impacted his mental health. I just don’t see anyone buying this but whatever. Not sure how much you can write on this topic but I’m sure they will find a way to stretch it out. Who buys this though? Like do Kate’s fans love the MIddleton’s enough to pay for this? If they did wouldn’t Party Pieces or Pippa’s book done better?
I was wondering if his book might be all about training his dogs. Therapy dogs need training and who does that for him? Or does he train the dogs himself?
I would probably end up with his book if it was about training, because its one of my passions. Yes, I love dogs, but a balanced dog, a happy (not anxious) dog, is a dog who understands their place in the pack. I don’t mean trained like a robot, either. Nor do I mean like obedience training, when the ‘come’ has to be a perfect sit in front of their guardian.
My library is extensive. My first dog book was given to me when I was 5 years old. Still have it. Have participated and watched as training methods evolved. So I’m interested in that aspect because having what, 5 dogs, can be challenging. OTOH QEII never trained her dogs, Anne’s dogs bit (killed?) other dogs/people, etc. So a comparison would interest me from that aspect. That he got into dog food seems to me the least interesting way to share his life/dogs/mental health journey.
Yeah, think he’s “barking”, up the wrong tree here, or maybe pssing in the wind 😜
*BOOM* you win comment of the week MP!!
Did you mean “BOOMF!” 😂😂😂
LMAO!!! You 3 have completely cracked me up.
@JADED, we make a good team lol, Celebitchy clan should write it’s own book of royal (ish) puns, and royal critique, because the British rags are to busy arse licking
Maybe he said he put pen to paper as a subtle threat to his brother in law to bail out his gangsta parents
Why is everyone assuming that the book would be nonfiction? A children’s book about dogs seems like an obvious choice. He seems pretty useless, but pretty harmless too. Both Fergie and that awful Kent woman have written multiple novels. He may have a book in him. Time will tell.
Because he said it’s been a reflective year & he’s been putting pen to paper. Seems pretty self-explanatory. This is about him & his dogs. With maybe a dedication to his wife &. kid.
He is mourning his dog. Pretty sure it will be a diary of ramblings about pet loss.
He skated away from his own company when the Nazi emblems showed up and didn’t take any responsibility so I’m not sure he is entirely harmless.
Wouldn’t brother in law be a sensitive friend to Willy, so much more refined than Thug Thindall, who **shudder** once attended an ompah lumpah throwing contest?
On what? How not to succeed in business?
What would he even write about ? “How to fail a business in ten steps or less” ?
People are harsh today. Let the harmless dog guy wax on harmlessly about dogs.
Pippa looks so much like her dad in that top photo
“A month later and I launched a new James & Ella range into Waitrose – and one of the last photos taken of me and Ella now appears on the shelves across stores nationwide.”
Does this tell anyone what that prodcut is? I couldnt believe this so-called entrepreneur FAILED to even mention the type of product he supposedly created, nevermind the actual product. Just “a new James and Ella range….” Range of what, ffs!….dogshit carvings engraved with a photo of him and Ella? dog biscuits made from the bones of dead dogs imprinted with a photo of him and Ella? Framed photos of him and Ella that literally no one wants or needs?
LMFAO
Well, he IS a Middleton after all. You can’t expect competence. Just be happy he spelled his name right in the post.
Inigo Middleton. My eyes have rolled to the back of my skull 🙄
What would the title be?
Marshmallows and Dogs?
Candies and Canines?
My Racist Sister’s Keeper?
Crazy Rich Inlaws?
Watch out, Kids! Uncle Gary’s Home!?
I swear that Pot Farm Near the Middleton Estate is Just a Coincidence!?
He is neither rich enough to have passion projects that don’t make any money, nor interesting enough to warrant a book deal. The only thing that he has going for him is that his sister is royalty. That’s likely enough to attract a group of people into his orbit. Carol is no Kris Jenner.