- James Middleton, 31, is the younger brother of Kate Middleton and Pippa Middleton.
- Like his sisters, James attended Malborough College, a private boarding school that has many famous alumni, including Princess Eugenie.
- James is perhaps best known for heading a company called Boomf, a service that lets customers print graphics and personal photos on marshmallows.
- He currently works as a tour guide at Pippa’s father-in-law’s hotel in Scotland.
- His personal Instagram was recently unearthed, and his posts show his love of animals and the outdoors.
By now, royal fans are likely well acquainted with Kate Middleton and her younger sister, Pippa – but the Duchess of Cambridge has another sibling.
The youngest Middleton, James, is perhaps best known for heading a personalized marshmallow company called Boomf. Recently, the businessman began a new gig as a tour guide in Scotland.
Below, take a closer look at James’ life, both before and after Kate became a member of the royal family.
James, 31, is the youngest Middleton sibling. He grew up with Kate and Pippa in Bucklebury, a village in West Berkshire, England.
When news outlets were first reporting Kate and Prince William’s budding romance, James took extreme measures to minimize rumors and chatter.
"I used to be first up in the morning to make sure I could get to the papers and rip out any stories about my sister, so nobody would see them and there would be no conversations about them," he told the Daily Mail.
Like his sisters, James attended Malborough College, a private boarding school that has many famous alumni, including Princess Eugenie.
He dropped out of the University of Edinburgh after one year because he knew college wasn't for him.
"I knew that that mouthful of academic prescription was not going to do it for me," he told British GQ. "My dream, which came to me when I was flying back up to Edinburgh after a weekend home, was to build a cake empire."
In 2007, he launched the Cake Kit Company, which provided customers with DIY kits for festive party cakes.
James' cake company dissolved in May 2015.
In the meantime, his older sister Kate got married to Prince William in a ceremony watched by an estimated two billion people worldwide.
Kate and William tied the knot at Westminster Abbey in London on April 29, 2011.
At the time, James was just 23 years old.
Following Kate's wedding, the duchess' siblings began to get a lot of media attention.
Around this time, Pippa and James were frequently photographed together in public. At the time, the two shared an apartment, according to British GQ.
In 2013, James was first spotted with British media personality Donna Air.
Donna Air has a 15-year-old daughter named Freya from her previous marriage. In 2016, James told the Daily Mail: "I love Donna very much and Freya is very much part of Donna. I love them both equally."
James went through a major style evolution in 2014: He grew a beard.
"My mother looks at it and says, 'When are you going to get rid of it?'" he told the Daily Mail. "But then that's because she wants me to be her little boy."
That same year, he appeared on "Good Morning America" to promote a new venture, Boomf.
Boomf is a service that allows customers to print graphics and personal photos on marshmallows.
Speaking about his company to The Cut in 2014, James said: "When you see yourself on a marshmallow, or your loved one or your pet, you have a little moment with that little marshmallow. There aren't many products in the world like that."
He added: "I'm very much surrounded by [marshmallows], but I still love them. … Marshmallows are sort of like an essential candy. They're pillows of sweetness."
"I work incredibly hard - just like every other person in business," he told digital magazine TYD in 2015. "Aside from the fact that yes, I am the brother of someone very important, I am, at the end of the day, just James."
When he's not working, he pursues an interesting set of hobbies: He keeps bees, restores old tractors and Land Rovers, and breeds dogs.
He has also said that "vintage tractor magazines" are his guilty pleasure.
He often spends time with Kate's children.
"I just want to be the best uncle possible," he once told "Good Morning America." "Like any uncle wants to be, I want to be the cool uncle. The fun uncle. That's what sort of I'll always try and be."
In early 2018, Air confirmed that she and James had split.
In February, she told the Daily Mail: "James and I are no longer an item. We parted ways in December but remain the very best of friends and always will be."
Later that year, James started working as a tour guide at Pippa's father-in-law's hotel.
According to the Daily Mail, the youngest Middleton sibling was hired as a tour guide at the Glen Affric Lodge near Loch Ness in Scotland.
The hotel is owned by David Matthews, the father of Pippa's husband, James Matthews, who works as a hedge fund manager. Pippa and her husband welcomed their first child, a baby boy, in October 2018.
"The countryside is where I'm at my happiest and I'll be taking my four dogs to Glen Affric with me," James told The Telegraph in late September.
The youngest Middleton sibling is dating a French financial expert.
In January 2019, the Daily Mail reported that James has been in a relationship with Alizee Thevenet, 29, for six months, according to Thevenet's father, Jean-Gabriel Thevenet.
Jean-Gabriel told the Daily Mail that his daughter is "deliriously happy" and that the couple is "very much in love."
According to an unnamed family friend, James and Alizee met in a bar when he "offered her a drink."
Alizee has an undergraduate degree in accounting and finance, as well as a master's degree in investment and finance, the Daily Mail reported.
His Instagram page is full of posts about animals and the outdoors.
James' personal Instagram made headlines in early January, after the Daily Mail reported that his account had been "unearthed."
Although it's not clear whether the Boomf founder recently made his profile public, or if it was just discovered, it appears James has been posting under the username, jmidy, from as early as July 2013.
Judging by his Instagram, James is particularly fond of animals. The youngest Middleton sibling often posts photos of numerous dogs, lambs, chickens, and more.
He also seems to be an avid outdoorsman, sharing photos and videos of himself doing everything from wakeboarding and hiking to sailing and cross-country skiing.
James has also promoted Boomf a number of times. He's even given his followers behind-the-scenes looks at production lines for the personalized marshmallows.
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