James Middleton's Appearance At Sister Kate's Wedding Got Him An Unexpected Offer

Kate Middleton and her brother James Middleton have a super close relationship by all accounts. When she and Prince William tied the knot in April 2011, Kate tapped James to read a Bible verse during the ceremony (which can be seen on YouTube). He read from Romans 12, and the businessman notably made sure to be fully prepared for it, memorizing what he was going to recite and working with a voice coach to ensure he was ready. Royal author Katie Nicholl wrote a profile of James for GQ back in 2012, and she revealed that he was so good on the day that Kate's brother actually caught the attention of the media and public alike. 

In a September 2024 interview with The Sunday Times Magazine about his book "Meet Ella: The Dog Who Saved My Life," James — who has dyslexia — explained why he chose to do the reading. "I'd never seen a royal wedding," the Princess of Wales's beloved brother admitted. "There hadn't been one in my lifetime. Not a big one anyway. I wasn't aware of the scale or the global interest. I just felt privileged that my sister was asking me to do it, and it meant something to her. I wanted to make sure I did it." In fact, James practiced his Romans 12 reading in front of his beloved dog Ella, who was also, naturally, the inspiration behind the book. 

After the wedding, an unnamed American production company even offered James $1 million for a leading role in a movie. Seeming to imply an interest in Kate, Pippa Middleton, and several other members of the Middleton family, James wrote in his book, "They even ventured that members of my wider family might like to take part." Although the princess's brother didn't become a movie star, he has found success elsewhere.

After James Middleton dropped out of university, his and Catherine, Princess of Wales' controversial uncle, Gary Goldsmith invested in his fledgling enterprise, the Cake Kit Company, which shipped customers the requisite supplies and ingredients needed to bake a cake at home. At the time, the Cake Kit Company was under Party Pieces, the Middletons' family business. Impressively, James ended up recouping the cost of Goldsmith's investment and paying him back. The ambitious businessman started other companies too; Nice Cakes, where he baked cakes for customers, and Nice Wine. James had aspirations for additional enterprises utilizing the Nice name under Nice Group London. But by 2015, the Cake Kit Company, Nice Cakes, and Nice Wine were all dissolved. And just two years later, Nice Group London was shut down entirely.

Elsewhere, James also created Boomf, a company selling greeting cards and personalized marshmallows. One of the investors in Boomf was Pippa Middleton's husband, James Matthews. After several financial struggles, Boomf went into administration and was later sold, in January 2022. In 2020, James founded a dog food business entitled Ella & Co, which he renamed James & Ella in 2023. 

On the company's "About Us" webpage, James detailed how his dogs turned his life around: "A few years back, my dogs helped pull me out of a really difficult battle with depression. While I reached the other side, I set out on a mission to make their lives just as happy and as healthy as they've made mine, starting with the food they eat." As of this writing, James & Ella is still going strong. Thus, it's likely that even if Hollywood came calling again, James would stick with his passion project.