James Middleton has made several revelations about life with his family in his brand-new book, Meet Ella: The Dog Who Saved My Life.
Whilst the entrepreneur has an incredibly close bond with his elder sisters, the Princess of Wales and Pippa Middleton, when it came to school life, James recalls that his "exemplary student" sisters were the antithesis of him.
© GettyThroughout the early pages of the book, James opens up about life at school, as well as his "accomplished" sisters, who were both academically gifted and incredibly sporty.
He penned: "Naturally, Catherine and Pippa, being exemplary students, managed to get through their entire school lives without a single demerit, but I amassed a handful of them every term."
© GettyHe later added: "So while the female Middletons would be applauded for being helpful to teachers – opening doors and carrying books for them – I’d undo all their kind deeds by scampering along the corridor instead of walking because I was late for a lesson. (Two bad order marks for the price of one there.)"
"And while Catherine and Pippa got full marks for spelling tests and top grades for essay writing, I lagged behind on both counts, accruing a batch of misconduct marks for my below-par schoolwork."
© InstagramJames has been incredibly open about his love for dogs and recalled being "dragged" to his sisters' sports matches, during which he would convince the headmaster's wife to take her dog out on a long walk around the Marlborough College grounds.
"Every time I was dragged along to spectate at one of their sports matches, I’d sidle off and beg the headmaster’s wife to let me take her beautifully groomed Old English Sheepdog for an amble around the grounds. These innocuous-sounding walks escalated into Famous-Five-style adventures (although in our case, we were an intrepid duo).
"At the final whistle, as my sisters emerged triumphant or deflated from their sporting feats, a bedraggled, mud-flecked vision – half human, half canine – materialised from a nearby copse, having splashed heedlessly through puddles and streams for the past hour."
James explained that when he got to eventually got to Marlborough, he would sometimes feel like a "failure."
"I was never in the first teams, my sisters were, and they did very well, and it worked fantastically for them in how they operated. But for me, it wasn’t like that. I was dragging at the bottom.
"It was a shame, in a way, that some of the things that I found challenging in my life were not picked up then.
"Because I think that could have gone on to help me manage myself, my own expectations, a bit further down the line, so perhaps not allow me to go where I went to because I would have felt more accepted, not felt like perhaps a failure."
James's love of animals has led to him setting up his own dog food and lifestyle company, Ella & Co, and his beloved late dog Ella introduced him to the love of his life, Alizee Thevenet.
