Name James Middleton Role Businessman | Partner Donna Air (2013–) | |
 | ||
Full Name James William Middleton Born 15 April 1987 (age 37) ( 1987-04-15 ) Reading, Berkshire, England Education St Andrew's School, Pangbourne, Marlborough College, and Edinburgh University Relatives Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge (sister)
Pippa Middleton (sister) Siblings Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, Pippa Middleton Parents Carole Middleton, Michael Francis Middleton Nephews Prince George of Cambridge Nieces Princess Charlotte of Cambridge Similar People Pippa Middleton, Catherine - Duchess of Cambridge, Carole Middleton, Donna Air, Michael Francis Middleton | ||
James william middleton
James William Middleton (born 15 April 1987) is an English businessman and member of the Middleton family. Middleton's companies include Boomf. He is the younger brother of Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, and read the lesson at her wedding to Prince William, Duke of Cambridge.
Contents
Personal life
Middleton was born on 15 April 1987 in Reading, Berkshire at the Royal Berkshire Hospital, the youngest child and only son of Michael Francis Middleton (born 1949), formerly a British Airways flight dispatcher, and Carole Goldsmith (born 1955), formerly flight attendant. His father came from a long line of solicitors who resided in Leeds, in Yorkshire, and one of James' great-grandmothers, Olive Middleton, was a member of the Lupton family who are described by the City of Leeds archives as "landed gentry; a business and political dynasty". Carole Middleton's mother's family were labourers and miners from County Durham. His elder sisters are Catherine Elizabeth (born 1982) and Philippa Charlotte (born 1983).
Middleton was educated at St Andrew's School, Pangbourne, followed by Marlborough College. He quit university while studying for a degree in Environmental Resources Management at Edinburgh University in 2006 but left after one year to start his business. He has stated that he is dyslexic and is speaking out to raise awareness about the condition.
Business
Middleton's cake-making business, which is now defunct, was inspired by reading that a mother's baking is a highly evocative childhood memory – he has said that he wanted to supply baking kits so home bakers would be able to get all the ingredients in one place for adventurous creations such as "football cakes". He started baking himself, using the family kitchen, then expanded into a freight container and his business now bakes in converted barns. Birthday cake baking kits are created with themes, which are then distributed through his parents' company, Party Pieces.
Themed cakes are baked for companies such as Jigsaw, 3 and Ralph Lauren. Middleton was said to have caused "shudders" at Buckingham Palace after taking part in the Hello magazine photoshoot, making 21 different cakes each was iced with one of the magazine's memorable front pages, including an image of Diana, Princess of Wales. The business has been nominated for several awards, and won Smarta 100 and Haines Watts Young Entrepreneur awards.
In April 2011 he registered three more businesses: Nice Cakes, Nice Wine and Nice Group London and has indicated that he plans to further expand the Cake Kit Company.these companies are now defunct.
Middleton also co-created Boomf, a company that makes marshmallows with edible pictures on them. In February 2015, Middleton said that "my work focus at the moment is just on Boomf".
It was reported in August 2015 that the company had raised £1million in funding.
Royal connections and ancestry
Middleton read the lesson at the wedding of his sister Catherine to Prince William. This was the Romans chapter 12, verses 1–2 and 9–18. The reading was from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible rather than the traditional King James Version.
Through his father's gentry Lupton lineage, Middleton is descended from Sir Thomas Fairfax (d.1520), whose wife, Agnes Gascoigne, was a descendant of King Edward III. On his mother's side, he is descended from Sir Thomas Conyers, 9th Baronet (1731-1810), himself a descendant of King Edward IV.
Film
In William & Kate, a television movie released on 18 April 2011 about his sister's romance, the part of James Middleton was played by Calvin Goldspink.