James Middleton, Kate Middleton's brother, detailed the family vacations they used to go on as a family during his childhood years.
James, 37, who enjoys a close friendship with his sisters – the Princess of Wales and Pippa Middleton – said he had “distinct memories” of the family trips the trio took with their parents, Michael and Carole Middleton.
“Holidays tended to pack up the car and drive somewhere,” Middleton told The Sunday Times. “My parents, my sisters and I would visit different places in the Swiss Alps every summer, like Les Masses, or we would go to Avoriaz in France.”
“My father would find a mountain shelter where we would have a soup-like meal with tea, but we were so hungry from a day of hiking that it tasted great.”
“Then we were fast asleep in our bed – sleeping on one long bed, all five of us – surrounded by other walkers,” he continued. “The next day, we would wake up early, put our walking shoes back on and continue our journey, ending up in another village.”
Middleton, who shares 1-year-old son Inigo with wife Alizee Thevenet, then detailed her “distinctive memories of beautiful butterflies, meadows of wildflowers and the sounds of cowbells.”
Middleton, who married Thevenet in 2021, said the couple had a similar vacation in the summer of 2024, “when Inigo took us to Valmoral in the French Alps to visit Alizee’s family.”
“There were the same smells, the same marmot sounds; it was a haunting moment that took me back to my childhood summers when I would climb mountains with a backpack bigger than me. “I can't wait for Inigo to make this kind of memory.”
While the businessman rarely shares details about his famous sister, he posted a heartfelt message on social media after Princess Catherine publicly revealed her cancer diagnosis to the world last March.
“Over the years, we've climbed many mountains together,” he wrote alongside a photo of the couple as children and a heart emoji. “As a family, we will climb this mountain with you too.”
The photo shows a young Kate standing behind her brother with both of them wearing backpacks.
Regarding his decision to share that particular photo, the father of one said, “Mountains play a big role in my life.”
“They remind us that we are vulnerable; “You have to respect them,” he said. “When I was growing up, we would also head to the Lake District, staying in rented cottages around Coniston Water and Windermere.”
“It's a very special place for us as a family, and the adventures we had as kids, from rock climbing on rocks to exploring caves, were like something out of The Famous Five,” he added, adding that as adults, he and his siblings make a point of spending time with Their families, “especially at Christmas.”
“They are milestones, because [my sisters] Remembering when their child wore something, and how old they were – it takes them back. “It's a beautiful thing for them,” he added.
