James William Middleton

James Middleton
Born James William Middleton
(1987-04-15) 15 April 1987
Royal Berkshire Hospital, Reading, Berkshire, England
Education St Andrew's School, Pangbourne, Marlborough College, and Edinburgh University
Known for Younger brother of Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge
Parent(s)
Relatives Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge (sister)
Philippa Middleton (sister)

James William Middleton (born 15 April 1987)[1] is an English businessman and member of the Middleton family. Middleton's companies include Boomf and the "Cake Kit Company" which can create themed cakes and cake-making kits for birthdays and other occasions. He is the younger brother of Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, and read the lesson at her wedding to Prince William, Duke of Cambridge.

Personal life

Middleton was born in 15 April 1987 in Reading at the Royal Berkshire Hospital,[1] the youngest child and only son of Michael Francis Middleton (born 23 June 1949), formerly a British Airways flight dispatcher,[2] and Carole Goldsmith (born 31 January 1955), formerly flight attendant.[3][4][5] His father came from a long line of solicitors who resided in Leeds, in Yorkshire, and one of James' great-grandmothers, Olive Middleton (1881-1936), was a member of the Lupton family who are described by the City of Leeds archives as "landed gentry; a business and political dynasty".[6][7] Carole Middleton's mother's family were labourers and miners from County Durham.[5][8][9][10] His elder sisters are Catherine Elizabeth (born 1982) and Philippa Charlotte (born 1983).[11]

Middleton was educated at St Andrew's School, Pangbourne, followed by Marlborough College. He started a degree in Environmental Resources Management at Edinburgh University in 2006 but left after one year to start his business.[12][13] He has acknowledged that he is dyslexic and is speaking out to raise awareness about the condition.[14]

Business

Middleton's cake-making business was inspired by reading that a mother's baking is a highly evocative childhood memory[12] – 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".[12] He started baking himself, using the family kitchen, then expanded into a freight container and his business now bakes in converted barns.[12] Birthday cake baking kits are created with themes, which are then distributed through his parents' company, Party Pieces.[12][15]

Themed cakes are baked for companies such as Jigsaw, 3 and Ralph Lauren.[12] 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.[16] 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.[12][16]

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".[17]

It was reported in August 2015 that the company had raised £1million in funding.[18]

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.[19]

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.[20] On his mother's side, he is descended from Sir Thomas Conyers, 9th Baronet (1731-1810), himself a descendant of King Edward IV.[21]

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.[22]

Arms

References

  1. 1 2 Nicholl, Katie (12 August 2012). "The Other Middleton". GQ. UK. Retrieved 15 June 2014.
  2. ↑ Rayner, Gordon (16 November 2010). "Royal wedding: Kate Middleton's family background". The Telegraph. Retrieved 15 May 2011.
  3. ↑ Ancestry of Kate Middleton at wargs.com, accessed 4 January 2011
  4. ↑ Berlau, John (28 April 2011). "The Entrepreneurs' Princess". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 15 May 2011.
  5. 1 2 Bradford, Sarah (29 April 2011). "Like the Queen Mother and Diana, Kate has the common touch". London Evening Standard. Retrieved 15 May 2011.
  6. ↑ - A Photographic Archive of Leeds, Leodis. "Headingley Castle". Leodis - UK Gov. Leeds. UK Leeds Gov. Retrieved 19 October 2014. The Luptons of Leeds were landed gentry; a political and business dynasty.
  7. ↑ The Leeds connection in Yorkshire Evening Post
  8. ↑ Duncan, Pearl (24 April 2011). "The History of Families New and Long Lost: An American Compares Coat of Arms with Kate Middleton's". History News Network. Retrieved 23 December 2015.
  9. ↑ Marquand, Robert (29 April 2011). "Royal wedding: Kate Middleton makes history as she walks down the aisle". Christian Science Monitor. Retrieved 15 May 2011.
  10. ↑ "Kate Middleton's relatives revealed - the postman, the fishmonger and the burlesque dancer". Now Magazine. 12 May 2011. Retrieved 15 May 2011.
  11. ↑ Party Pieces Princess in News of the World (21 November 2010), pg. 4
  12. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Zoe Brennan (27 Apr 2011), "The very ambitious Mr Middleton", Daily Telegraph
  13. ↑ "5 Things You Didn't Know About James Middleton". US Weekly. 28 April 2011. Retrieved 3 May 2011.
  14. ↑ "James Middleton finally speaks up for dyslexia". The Telegraph. Retrieved 10 August 2013.
  15. ↑ Jessica Fellowes (1 October 2008), "The 'posh-preneurs' who mean business", Daily Telegraph
  16. 1 2 Eden, Richard (24 April 2011). "Kate Middleton's brother wants a bigger slice of the cake". Telegraph. Retrieved 3 May 2011.
  17. ↑ Sebastian, Shakespeare (2 February 2015). "Kate's brother fails to find the recipe for cake success: James closes two firms and a wine business". Daily Mail. Retrieved 26 March 2015.
  18. ↑ Charlton, Corey. "Kate Middleton's brother James's mobile marshmallow picture-printing firm". UK Daily Mail August 2015. Retrieved 1 September 2015. ....the paper reported the company was not in the red because it had raised £1million in funding.
  19. ↑ Tim Ross (29 Apr 2011), "How Kate Middleton's brother risks upsetting the Prince of Wales", Daily Telegraph
  20. ↑ Rayner, Gordon. "'Middle-class' Duchess of Cambridge's relative wore crown and attended George V's coronation". UK Daily Telegraph, Page 7, 13 September 2013. Retrieved 13 November 2014.
  21. ↑ London, Bianca. "Kate is a Brummie! Historian discovers the Duchess of Cambridge is descended from Birmingham's most notable families". UK Daily Mail, 3 June 2014. Retrieved 13 November 2014. Middleton's mother Carole is many times great granddaughter of (Edward IV - through Sir Thomas Conyers - and thus) Edward III
  22. ↑ William and Kate at imdb.com, accessed 19 February 2011
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/15/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.