James Middleton shares emotional family video in honour of bittersweet day

James Middleton took to social media with a touching family video on Friday.

The entrepreneur, 37, shared an emotional montage of special moments with his late therapy dog Ella to mark Pet Remembrance Day. Ella sadly passed away in January 2023 , and James has frequently discussed how the Cocker Spaniel "saved his life" whilst he was battling depression.

The heartfelt video showed the Princess of Wales's brother cuddling his dog as they were filmed on the grounds of his sprawling family home in Berkshire.

Captioning the post, James wrote: "I’m missing Ella a lot - today & every day [broken heart emoji]. It can be really difficult to express the loss of a dog, which is why I started writing about all of our adventures together.

© Instagram

He continued: "Through the good times and the bad, Ella was my constant. I have so much to thank Ella for in my life, and I know many of you will relate to my upcoming book about our story together,  thank you always for your support." The connection between James and Ella was undeniable in the heartfelt video.

Friends and fans weighed in with advice on how to manage grief. One fan acutely replied: "Grief is like glitter. You can throw a handful of glitter up in the air, but when you try to clean it up… you never get it all. Even long after the event, you will still find glitter tucked into corners… it will always be there. Somewhere. — by Kevin Pádraig."

© Instagram

James also shared a photo on the official Instagram page for his business Ella & Co, a dog food and lifestyle brand which was inspired by Ella, with a touching black and white photo.

In the image, James had his arms wrapped around his dog whilst they crouched against a spectacular lake-side backdrop. Alongside the image were the words: "Today is Pet Remembrance Day. I'm thinking of those of you going through a challenging time, and missing your companions."

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Ella came into James' life when he was battling with depression, which he has been incredibly brave in opening up about and is the focus of his new book Meet Ella: The Dog Who Saved My Life.

The cover of the book is incredibly poignant and shows James cuddling his beloved pet on one of her last walks. Upon revealing the special front page at Goodwoof Dog Festival, James wrote: "For fifteen years Ella carried me over the obstacles life threw at me…but in our last moments together I carried her. This photo means so much to me and I’ve chosen it to be the front cover of my upcoming book.

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"It was taken by my wife Alizee on one of our last walks together. I had tears in my eyes as I knew she was getting weaker by the day. But we enjoyed every last moment we could together…"

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