Good news for Prince Louis! James Middleton says there are benefits to being the youngest sibling in a family, and he would know. In an interview with Hello, Princess Kate’s younger brother shares that “one of the wonderful things about being the youngest [sibling] and having children last is that there is an abundance of paraphernalia that comes in very handy" when you have children.
James’s son, Inigo, turned two recently, and he has six older cousins to look up to. "There’s seven grandchildren, so six cousins for him, and it’s wonderful spending time together and making memories,” James said of Princess Kate’s children, Prince George, Princess Charlotte, and Prince Louis, and Pippa Matthew’s children, Arthur, Grace, and Rose. "We're really fortunate to be a very close family, and so we get together as a family relatively regularly, and love that opportunity.”
The Middleton family has always been close, and it seems they have become even closer since starting their own families. James Middleton’s farm backs up to his parent’s property, Bucklebury Manor, and Pippa and James Matthews own Bucklebury Farm Park and live nearby. Despite living so close, James shares that his family is “definitely at the end of the phone if we need a bit of advice.”
James spoke of the support his big sisters and parents provide, saying "you’re always on edge with being a parent, particularly this time of year with coughs and colds and sniffles going around the place.” James may be new at parenting, but he is always on hand to help out with the family dogs. “Equally, they know that I’m on the end of the phone if they need a bit of advice on managing their dogs,” he said.
In his interview with Hello, James highlighted the Dog’s Trust Christmas campaign to find a “happy place” for pets during the holidays. When asked why the royal family is so fond of dogs, from Queen Elizabeth II’s corgis to Prince William and Princess Kate’s working cocker spaniels, James said "I think it’s because dogs don’t care who you are. A dog looks at the King or Queen the same way that my dogs look at me.”
