Brother James highlights strength of family support
THE warm public message of support released by James Middleton, the Princess of Wales’s brother, spoke more than a thousand words.
Mr Middleton was the only member of the Princess’s inner circle to react publicly to the news of her cancer diagnosis but his brief message neatly encapsulated the tight family bond.
His Instagram post, with a photograph of him and the Princess as children, said: “Over the years, we have climbed many mountains together. As a family, we will climb this one with you too.”
The Princess has long hailed the importance of family and spoken warmly of the close ties she enjoys with her parents, Carole and Michael, James and her sister, Pippa Matthews. Now, more than ever, she will be leaning on that unit. The Middletons are thought to have maintained a regular presence at the Wales family home, Adelaide Cottage, in Windsor, in recent weeks, with Carole and Michael in particular helping look after the children and provide much-needed stability.
The Prince and Princess’s move to Windsor in August 2022 was largely due to schools but had the added benefit of bringing them within much closer proximity to her family.
Mr and Mrs Middleton, widely considered the future King and Queen’s closest confidantes, live just 15 miles from Windsor in Bucklebury, Berks.
Discreet, eminently sensible and great company, they have been described as the couple’s “anchors”, bringing “a real sense of normality amid any chaos”.
Pippa and her husband, James Matthews, live in the area, as does James, with his wife, Alizee, and a young son.
In 2019, James Middleton wrote a newspaper article about his battle with depression, citing his sister and brotherin-law as an inspiration for his honesty.
“I feel compelled to talk about it openly because this is precisely what my brother-in-law Prince William, my sister Catherine and Prince Harry are advocating through their mental health charity Heads Together,” he wrote.
In an interview with The Telegraph that same year, he said: “My mother will see how much I’m eating and know that there’s something wrong. It’s the same with all my family. We are very close.”
As the Prince and Princess batten down the hatches to ride out the storm, the Middleton clan will prove one of their strongest supports.